AWARD OP THE FISHEKY COMMISSION. H15 



1. I have been a practical fisherman for twenty-five years of mv life 

 and fishing was my sole employment up to the year 1871, .since whic 

 time I have been both fishing and trading. I have fished for mackerel 

 all around the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and in Chedabucto 

 Bay. I have been herring fishing at the Magdalens, and on the .shores 

 of Labrador and Newfoundland, I have fished for codli.sli in the Strait* 

 of .Northumberland. During about ten years of the twenty live, 1 was 

 employed in American fishing-vessels. 



2. I am of opinion that the American mackerel-fvsliing lleet up to the 

 year 1874 would average four hundred sails at least each season. In 

 1875 and 1870 they were not quite so numerous. These vessels carried a 

 crew of about fifteen men each, and the tonnage ranged from liftv to 

 one hundred tons. The American herring fleet has averaged about 

 thirty or forty sails each season. These niackerelers fish all around the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the herring fishers go principal I v to the 

 Magdalen Islands. 



3. The average catch of mackerel per vessel during the whole twenty- 

 five years that 1 have been acquainted with the fishery has been about 

 five hundred barrels each season, worth from ten to twelve dollars per 

 barrel. The herring fleet catch each season between eight and nine 

 hundred barrels per vessel. 



4. I consider the herring fishery about as good as ever it was. The 

 mackerel are a variable fish, and in some years they are scarce, and 

 then become plenty again after a year or two. In 1875 and 187G they 

 were somewhat scarce, but it is my opinion that they will come in again 

 as plenty as ever they were. 



5. The herring are caught almost altogether with seines. The mack- 

 erel are caught principally with hooks and lines, but of late years the 

 American fishermen are using seines also to some extent. 



6. During the Reciprocity Treaty the American fishermen fished for 

 mackerel to a large extent within three miles of the shore. The herring 

 fishery at the Magdalens is altogether inshore. 



7. In my opinion, at least one-half the mackerel are caught within 

 three miles of the shore, and almost all the herring are caught within 

 that distance. 



f 8. The principal breeding-places of the mackerel are, in my opinion, 

 inshore in shoal water. Their coming inshore in the spring is, I believe, 

 for the purpose of spawning. 



9. It is an advantage to the American fishermen who supply the mar- 

 ket with fresh fish to be allowed to procure bait on our shores. It is 

 also very advantageous to them to procure ice on our shores to preserve 

 their bait, and also to procure other supplies on our coasts. 



. The foregeing statements, according to the best of my knowledge and 

 belief, are true in substance and fact. 



liia 



JAMES -I- CAKEY. 



mark. 



The said James Carey was sworn to the truth of this aflMavi 

 same having been first read over and explained to him, at Port 

 grave, in the county of Guysborough, this 30th day of July, A. 

 1877, before me. 



JAMES PURCELL, 

 A Jmtice of the /'i<r. 



