AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1391 



No. 255. 



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



of Washington. 



I, ARCHIBALD B. SKINNER, of Port Hastings, in the county of Inver- 

 ness, trader and inspector of tish, make oath and ssiy as follow*: 



1. I have been engaged in the fishing business for the past thirty two 

 years. I hav3 been a practical fisherman and am familiar with tin- gen- 

 eral character of the fishing business on this coast. 



2. During the Keciprocity Treaty a larjje fleet of American fishing 

 vessels came to this coast during the summer season to carry on a flab- 

 ing business. The number increased during the treaty, until at the ter- 

 ruination a fleet numbering hundreds of vessels were engaged in fishing 

 around the coast of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island, 

 and the Magdalen Islands. These principally took mackerel and cod- 

 fish, but they took other fish as well. The average cargo of mackerel 

 was at least three hundred barrels per trip, and the cargo ot codfish 

 ranged, to the best of my knowledge, from six hundred to a thousand 

 quintals. They made two or three trips per season. 



3. After the Keciprocity Treaty the American fleet began to fall off 

 very much, and their business and profits began to decline, and I believe 

 it would have gone down much more, and possibly have been abandoued, 

 if American fishermen had not violated the law. 



4. During the past two or three years the mackerel fishery in the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence has fallen oft considerably. The number of American 

 vessels has been decreased and the catch diminished. This has been 

 merely accidental and temporary, and. not permanent. The reason for 

 few American vessels coming here I attribute to the falling oft' in the 

 price of mackerel in American markets ; and also to the injury done to 

 our fishing grounds by American fishermen, by their system of seining 

 and their throwing bait and oftal overboard, which gluts the fish and 

 tends to destroy the catch. 



5. Our herring fisheries are among the most valuable and important 

 we have, and are the source of great profit to our own fishermen. Nearly 

 the whole herring fishery is carried on inshore. 



6. The inshore fisheries are considered more valuable than the outside. 

 During the prosperous years of our mackerel fishing I have no doubt 

 but that the larger number were taken inshore. I believe that our 

 mackerel fisheries, if properly protected, will be more productive and 

 valuable this year, and for the next eight years, than for some time past. 

 The number of American vessels arriving here this season and pacing 

 through the strait is larger than it has been for some time past, and the 

 mackerel season is only beginning. I know no reason why there should 

 not be as large a mackerel fishery in these waters during the remaining 

 term of the Treaty of Washington as under the Reciprocity Treaty. 



7. The privileges granted to American fishermen under the Treaty of 

 Washington, of catching and procuring bait in our waters and port*, i* 

 exceedingly valuable to them. In fact, without that privilege, I canr 

 see how they could carry on their cod fishing in these parts with proti 

 All their bait is procured here and preserved in ice obtained from 

 traders, and I do not have much hesitation in saying that il 



cans were entirely dependent on themselves for bait they would 1 

 abandon cod fishing on the British-American coast. 



8. The privilege of reshipmeutof cargoes which the Amencni 

 under the Treaty of Washington is exceedingly valuable to them. 



