1348 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



St. Peter, county of Gaspe, Province of Quebec, Dominion of Canada, 

 this 1st of August, 1877, before me. 



N. LAYOIE, 

 Justice of the Peace, Province of Quebec. . 



Xo. 216. 



In tbe matter of the Fisheries Commission at Halifax, under the Treaty 



of Washington. 



I, DANIEL DEVOT, of the Basin Amherst Island, Magdalen Islands, 

 make oath and say as follows : 



1. I am C2 years of age; I was born here and have always lived here. 

 I am well acquainted with all the fisheries of these islands. I have 

 fished myself from these islands for forty years. 



2. The herring are found all round these islands as soon as the ice has 

 gone, some years as early as the 20th of April, but generally in the be- 

 ginning of May. They come in the greatest quantities into Pleasant 

 Bay. They begin to spawn about the 10th or 15th of May each spring. 

 They have never failed to spawn here each spring, always in great num- 

 bers, but differing, sometimes more, sometimes less. They spawn in 

 from half a fathom to two fathoms of water, close to the shore. They 

 also spawn in abundance in the harbor of Amherst, and in the basin at 

 the Moulin. In the harbor they spawn in very shoal water, there not 

 being not more than a foot of water above the eggs at low water. I have 

 seen the eggs at the bottom attached to the sea herbs, kelp, &c., and to 

 the rocks. When the male herring are depositing their inilt over the 

 eggs the water is made as white as milk ; this is especially the case, and 

 to be seen in calm weather. After a strong breeze of onshore wind the 

 the eggs are often washed by the surf upon the shore or beach in 

 great banks. The herring here spawned by the end of May or the be- 

 ginning of June, as when taken at this time they no longer contain any 

 spawn. We find the young herring about an inch and a half long about 

 the beginning of August in all the bays and coves round the islands, but 

 more particularly in Pleasant Bay. 



3. The Americans have come to these islands to seine herring every 

 spring, as long back as I can remember, some years in greater numbers 

 than others, but always in great numbers. "They always have large 

 schooners ; sometimes I have seen large three-masted schooners, brigs, 

 and even steamers these were American vessels. They seined from 

 the shore, landing to haul their seines, on to or close to the shore. 

 Without landing on the shores they could not seine in this way. They 

 take immense quantities of herring in this way, frequently taking as 

 much as two thousand barrels in one haul of the seine. Several vessels 

 join and help to haul the seine, and they load in common from the 

 quantity of herring in the seine. When a great quantity of herring re- 

 mains in a seine lor more than one day, this herring is lost, as the fish 

 thus jammed together soon die and sink to the bottom. These herring 

 are lost, and I have often seen a thousand barrels of herring thus lost. 



4. Without the right of lauding on our shores the Americans could 

 not thus haul their seines. 



5. 1 have seen as many as from 100 to 150 American vessels here at 

 one time for the herring lisherv, and these were large vessels, carrying 

 from i)(K) to 1,000 barrels at the least. 



0. The mackerel are taken with nets in Pleasant Bay and all around 

 these islands, beginning generally about the 10th of "jime. This net- 



