AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1357 



that we will leave good fishing grounds to go such a distance to fiU in 

 grounds already exhausted. 



9. The American free market is of no use to us, and for the last 1 7 

 years I have never shipped any fish to the United States. My tish KOCH 

 to Europe, Brazil, or Canada. 



10. It is important for us to keep our fisheries to ourselves, and not to 

 give them to foreigners unless we obtain equivalent advantages in one 

 way or another. 



11. The American vessels I mentioned in paragraph 4 used, as a gen- 

 eral thing, to load. They averaged from 50 to GO tons, and thv used to 

 get full loads. 



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

 edge and belief, correct. 



PHS. SIKOIS. 



The said Philias Sirois has sworn to the truth of the above affidavit 

 at St. John's River, in the county of Sagueuay and Province of Quebec, 

 this eighth day of August, A. D. 1877, before me. 



P. FOKTIX, J. r. 



No. 223. 



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

 Treaty of Washington. 



I, JOHN RENOUF, of Carlisle, of the county of Bouaventure, of the 

 Province of Quebec, make oath and say as follows : 



1. I have been on this coast for the last 21 years as agent for Mr. 

 Clarence Hamilton. I have been his agent during that time at the fol- 

 lowing places : Seven Islands, Moisie, Long Point of Mingan, and St. 

 John River. I understand thoroughly every operation connected with 

 fishing and the curing of fish. I keep twenty-two boats here at St. John 

 River. 



2. The fisheries carried on on this coast are the cod, herring, mackerel, 

 and halibut; all these fisheries are done within three miles of the coast 

 in our waters, with the exception of two Banks, the St. John Bank and 

 fhe Mingan Bank, where cod and halibut are occasionally taken late in 

 the season ; these Banks lie at about nine miles from shore. 



3. The cod is the most important fish on this coast, and is the fishery 

 most extensively carried on by our people. 



4. The bait we use for cod fishing is caplin, lannce, herring, clams, 

 mackerel, occasionally squid and trout. 



5. It would be impossible for a foreign fishing vessel not having th> 

 right of entry to our waters to carry on the fishing on the banks above 

 described, for, although bait is occasionally taken on these banks by 

 seines, this is by no means certain; the bait is almost entirely taken 

 close inshore and in the mouths of the rivers and on the beach. 



6. I think the practice of throwing overboard offal, while on the fish- 

 ing grounds, which the Americans do extensively, most .injurious to the 

 fishing, as it gluts the fish, and they will no longer take the bait. 



7. The competition carried on by foreign vessels is also very injurious 

 to the fishery, for when the tish are scarce the more boats there are fish- 

 ing the less each one will take, and when bait is scarce, if foreigners are 

 allowed to CDme with large seines and fish day and night tor it, a 

 know they have done, of course, there is less chance of our fishermen 

 getting enough to carry on their fishery. 



