AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1373 



11. The bait for cod-fishing and halibut and mackerel is v?rv abun- 

 dant along the shore, and the Americans used to go and get it thenWlv?*' 

 I have seen them repeatedly go and dig clams at Seven Islands and the 

 May Islands. 



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

 edge and belief correct. 



riERRE BHOCHU. 



The said Pierre Brochu, of Seven Islands, has sworn to the truth ot 

 the above affidavit, at Moisie, in the county of Saguenay, and Province 

 of Quebec, this sixth day of August, A. D. 1877, before mo. 



P. FORT IX, .7. /'. 

 No. 239. 



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



of Washington. 



I, ISAAC CHOUINARD, farmer and fisherman of Cape Chat, in the 

 county of Gaspe and Province of Quebec, make oath and say as fol- 

 lows: 



1. I have been engaged in fishing on this coast for about twenty years. 



2. I am well acquainted with the fisheries of the south coast of the 

 St. Lawrence from Matane to Gasp6, of the north shore from Point des 

 Monts to Esquimaux Point, north and west coast of Anticosti, Bny de 

 Chaleur, and the Magdalen Islands. I was engaged as fisherman on 

 board an American mackerel fisher for one season, the summer of 1863; 

 we made two trips of 850 barrels each trip, both of which took place with- 

 in ten weeks. The first trip we took 100 barrels with the seine; the rest 

 were taken with hook and line. The second trip was made entirely with 

 theseine, and we filled our vessel in five days; that is to say, the seine was 

 hauled once, from the shore at Cape St. Nicholas on the north shore of 

 the St. Lawrence, and contained no less than 1,20') birrels; the seine was 

 moored, and 850 barrels were taken from the seine, and the seine was 

 capsized and the remaining 350 barrels were allowed to go, we having no 

 means of preserving them ; many of these were dead and became a total 

 loss. The first voyage was made partly on the coast of Gaspo and 

 partly in the Bay of Chaleur ; the fish we caught were taken entirely 

 within the three-mile limit in both voyages that is, entirely in British 

 waters. We also made a third voyage in September and October on the 

 banks off the Magdalen Islands, where we loaded with codfish and hal- 

 ibut. The vessel was of 100 tons and hailed from Boston. 



3. Mackerel was very abundant on this coast formerly ; for the last 

 few years they have been scarce; this year they are appearing in abun- 

 dance. 



4. According to my belief, the scarcity was caused by the great quan- 

 tity taken by the Americans, and as they have not been fishing in any 

 numbers for a few years back, the quantity of mackerel is again increas- 

 ing. The year that I fished with the Americans it was reckoned that 

 seven or eight hundred American vessels were fishing in the Gull of the 

 St. Lawrence; as far as I could see and learn, they 'were all lishing 

 within the three-mile limit. 



5. I affirm that the presence of so many American vessels in our 

 fishing for mackerel was most injurious to our mackerel fisheries, a 

 must tend to diminish the supply, the methods practiced by ( 

 icans, either by seines or by hook and line, enabling them to t* 

 large quantities so easily. 



