AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1361 



The 5 aid Nathaniel Boudreau has sworn to the truth of the above -ifli 

 davit at Esquimaux Point, this (8th) eighth day of August A I) is:; 

 before me. 



P. FOUTiy, ./. /'. 

 No. 230. 



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



of Washington. 



I, JULIEN BOUDREAU, of Esquimaux Point, in the county of Saguc- 

 Day, make oath and say as follows : 



1. I have lived here 16 years ; before that I Jived at the Magdalen 

 Islands where I was born. I am 63 years of age, and have been a 

 fisherman for 50 years, and for the last 45 years I have been carrying 

 on the fishery with a vessel of which I was master and owner, on the 

 north coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, from Sheldrake to the Straits 

 of Belleisle, and in the Straits of Belleisle, and on the Atlantic coast 

 of Labrador, as far as Cape Harrison, at the Magdalen Islands, on L: 

 Have Bank, at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, and on George's Bank. 

 I am well acquainted with every operation relating to the taking and 

 curing of codfish, halibut, mackerel, and herring. 



2. I am also acquainted with seal hunting on the ice. 



3. The fisheries carried on along the coast of the north of the 'St. 

 Lawrence, from the Sheldrake to the Straits of Belleisle, are the cod, 

 halibut, mackerel, and herring. All these fish are caught within the 

 three-mile limit all along the coast named, with the exception of the 

 St. John and Mingan Banks, Natashquan, Kejasca, Belles-Amours 

 Banks, where the fisheries are carried on also outside of the three-mile 

 limit, at a distance of from three to six miles from the three mile line. 



4. The bait for taking cod and halibut iscapliu, herring, launce, squid, 

 clams, mackerel, and trout. All this bait is taken near the shores, and 

 generally, as in the case of launce, caplin, herring, with seines from the 

 shore. Herring, as well as mackerel and trout, is also taken in nets. 

 Squid are taken with jigs, by hand. 



5. Since I visited the north shore of the St. Lawrence and the Straits 

 of Belleisle, that is to say, for the last 45 years, I find that the quantity 

 of fish is about the same upon the whole, but I must add that there aro 

 variations, some years being much better than others. 



6. From the time that I first visited Natashquan, in 1832, that place 

 was visited annually by American fishing schooners to the number of 

 about 15, of from 80 to 120 tons, and having from 15 to 20 men, with 

 from four to eight boats with each vessel. These vessels were in com- 

 pany with, on an average each year, 20 or 25 Canadian vessels. Each 

 of these American vessels averaged 500 quintals. This state of affairs 

 existed up to 1854, a period of 22 years, during which they took at thi.s 

 place alone about 8,000 quintals annually. Valuing this lish at $.'i per 

 quintal, this would give a sum of nearly half a million of dollars for the 

 value of the fish taken illegally by the Americans atNatasliquan alone. 

 Before my time, according to reliable information, American vessels 

 were also in the habit of fishing at this place in even greater numbe 

 A number of American vessels still visited Xatashquan after the exi 

 euce of the Reciprocity Treaty, but the quantity of codfish hav 

 slackened, they did not visit the place in such numbers, 

 ways seen American vessels fishing on .the Banks of Natashqtian 

 Kejasca. 



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