AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1349 



fishing for mackerel lasts about ten or twelve days, and generally ondH 

 about the 20th of June. When we take the mackerel at the beginning 

 of this net-fishing season they are full of eggs. .By the 20th of .lime, 

 when this net-fishing ends, the mackerel have deposited their eggs. 

 They spawn in deeper water than the herring, where the sea seldom 

 breaks. The line and hook fishery for mackerel begins about the begin- 

 ning of August, and by this time it is very seldom that we find mackerel 

 with, eggs in them. About the beginning of August the Americans come 

 in great numbers for the mackerel fishery in Pleasant Bay and around 

 the islands. I have sometimes seen from GOO to 700 sail of American 

 mackerel fishers in and around the islands. I once saw 400 sail at one 

 time achored off' my place at the Moulin. 



7. The permission to fish in American waters is of no use to us ; our 

 fishermen do not go there. 



8. The American free market is of no use to me. I am in the fish trade 

 for myself for the last fifteen years, and I have never sent any fish to 

 the United States. I sell my fish either in Halifax or Quebec. My dried 

 codfish goes to the West Indies ; my mackerel to Halifax or Quebec. 



9. The American fishing crews often land and commit serious depre- 

 dations. No later than last week they landed from four schooners in 

 Pleasant Bay, and got up a riot at Amherst Harbor. Two years ago 

 some Americans forced an entrance into my own house, causing by their 

 violence and noise much alarm to my family. They broke open the 

 door of my house. 



I hereby swear that the above statement is, to the best of my knowl- 

 edge and belief, correct. 



his 



DANIEL -|- DEVOT. 



mark. 



Witness : 



W. WAKEHAM. 



The said Daniel Devot has sworn to the truth of the above affidavit, 

 at Amherst Harbor, Amherst Island, Magdalen Islands, county of 

 Gaspe and Province of Quebec, this twenty-first (21) day of August, A. 

 D. 1877, before me. 



P. FORTIN, J. P. 



No. 217. 



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



of Washington. 



I, JOSEPH SINETTE, of Griffin's Cove, county of Gaspe, Province of 

 Quebec, fisherman, make oath and say as follows: 



I am acquainted with all the fisheries that are carried on on the coast 

 of Gaspe since 35 years. 



1. During the Eeciprocity Treaty, from 1854 to 1SOG, and some yeai 

 before that time, the mackerel fishery by the Americans.on these coasts, 

 from Griffin's Cove to Madeleine River, has been very extensive. 



2. To the best of my knowledge, 150 American vessels have been 

 these shores yearly for mackerel fishing, during the period mentu 

 The average* tonnage of these vessels was 70 tons, and their en 

 men. 



3. I have been one season employed on board of an American 

 er during the Eeciprocity Treaty. We went all along the c 



here to Madeleine Kiver, and we 'fished at Grand Etang, Chlorvdc ae, 



