1402 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



4. Within tbe last two or three years I have seen American fishermen 

 using the purse seines in the mackerel fisheries, and I consider that this 

 practice is very injurious to our fishing-grounds. Sometimes as many 

 as a thousand barrels of mackerel are taken in one haul, which cannot 

 be cured or saved, and part of them have to be let out and many are 

 killed. This must be destructive to the fishery. I have never known 

 Canadian fishermen to take this course, and most of them catch mack- 

 erel iu boats. 



5. American fishermen to my knowledge have caught mackerel since 

 the Treaty of Washington within one mile of the shore and even less. 

 Within two or three years I have seen them catching in this harbor. It 

 is always considered that the best fishing is within three miles of the 

 shore. When I was on board of American fishing vessels we took nearly 

 all the cargo inshore. 



6. I have seen Americans catching bait within three miles of the 

 shore iu fact, all bait is caught inshore, being smaller fish, which only 

 live in shoal water. Now the Americans buy most of their bait, because 

 it is more convenient and profitable for them to do so, and our fisher- 

 men catch it with greater facility than they do. Not less thau fifty or 

 sixty American vessels have baited here this present season already, 

 chiefly herring and squid. 



7. The American practice of throwing bait to entice mackerel away is 

 very injurious to our boat- fishing. Iheir vessels of'teu come along 

 where we are fishing, and throw bait overboard, and the fish leave us 

 and go in the direction of their bait, which is very damaging to our 

 catch. 



8. Our herring fishery is one of the most important and valuable we 

 have. Large quantities of this fish are taken by our shore fisher- 

 men now. I have known as many as one hundred and fifty bar- 

 rels of herring to be taken by one boat in two days. If the Americans 

 should enter into this branch of fishing under the Washington Treaty, 

 and they do somewhat now, and use their seines, it would injure our 

 business very seriously and damage the grounds very much. 



0. To the best of my observation and experience as a fisherman, I say 

 that the main body of the mackerel feed around the shore in shoal 

 water. Their food being small fish, they must necessarily be obtained 

 near the shore, and iu the fall season especially the mackerel cluster 

 near the shore, and it is there chiefly that they are caught. 



10. I consider it a great advantage for American fishermen to be 

 allowed to land in our ports and dry their nets and cure their fish, and 

 still more to be allowed to transship their cargoes. There can be no 

 doubt about this. They do it continually, and say themselves that it is 

 a great advantage, as it enables them to fit out for new voyages and 

 ship men without going back to American ports. They can catch more 

 fish in a season by means of this privilege and take more trips. 



11. 1 regard the privilege of being able to catch and buy bait in Can- 

 adian waters as one of the greatest advantages the American fishermen 

 get from the treaty. If they had not this privilege they would have to 

 abandon cod- fishing in our waters and on our coast altogether. They 

 begin the cod fishing about the first of May, and get bait continually all 

 the season. When preserved in ice, which they get from our traders, 

 the bait is allowed to last about three weeks. If they could not get it 

 from us, and ice to keep it, the only way they could 'preserve it would 

 be to salt it, and this injures the quality of the bait. If the Americans 

 had to go back to their own waters and ports to get bait every three 



