AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1479 



The cod fishery is little followed here, and scarcely at all for exportation. A *r*t 

 many eels are caught for winter use. 



The salmon-fishing had not been good this season, and it is never very productira 



The law is very loosely administered, bat on my visit everything wa quiet and th 

 people contented, in consequence, I presume, of a plentiful herring season. 



Agriculture is more followed here every year. The short duration of the lucrative 

 fishery, as well as the season of the year at which it is followed, is favorable to thi*. 



Throughout the gulf there is no fishery so valuable as that on the Cape Breton nhor* 

 especially between Wolf Island and Port Hood, from about the first of October to tb 

 end of the season. At this time the mackerel, being very numerous and of the finest 

 quality, draw to a point nearly all the fishing-vessels, both colonial and American. 



The latter, this season, have been very persevering in their efforts to evade the treat v 

 and have run great risks for that purpose. 



Immediately on arriving there I saw the necessity of placing a boat at Wolf Island ; 

 for, taking advantage of the liberal interpretation of the treaty of the British Gov- 

 ernment, the Americans were in the habit of anchoring, even in fine weather, for the 

 the night, close to the island, 100 sail at a time, and weighing the next morniiig (if no 

 cruiser was near) ; of throwing their bait over and drifting off shore, keeping the flub, 

 attracted for a considerable distance, making the best of the opportunity that circum- 

 stances would admit, renewing this scheme each morning. A boat, however, from thi 

 sloop, in charge of Mr. Jenkins, mate, at once put a stop to it, and shelter under thit 

 island was no longer sought, to any extent, by them. 



Finding themselves foiled by this and other boats, the American flag disappeared 

 almost entirely about the 26th October, being at least a month earlier than in former 

 seasons ; another proof that in order to succeed the treaty must be evaded. 



Full and free possession would at this time have been secured to the British colonial 

 fishermen, which could not have failed to have been very lucrative, had it not b*e 

 that a system of fraud and collusion was got up at some of the ontports in Nova Sco- 

 tia and Prince Edward Island, by which American vessels were supplied wibh tho 

 British flag and papers, the latter in most instances disguised with an ingenuity 

 worthy of a better cause. 



Having had so large a share in the execution of your orders in performing the duty 

 of keeping the Americans off under the United States flag, I considered it at least :n 

 imperatively my duty to prevent their assuming the British flag to cover their depre- 

 dations. Having observed the number of vessels under British colors increase greatly 

 in the course of a few days, and it being apparent, from this and other indication-. 

 that fraud to a great extent was going on, I took advantage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th 

 ultimo, of a large number of vessels anchoring in Port Hood to examine their papers, 

 generally an easy matter, and one (especially where British vessels are concerned) re- 

 quiring a very short space of time. 



On boarding the vessels, however, I found, from the lax state of the administration 

 of the customs laws in some of the provinces, that it was impossible to detect those 

 really fraudulent among so many which were sailing (perhaps through carleMMH) 

 contrary to law, and the weather at the time being very stormy, aggravated my diffi- 

 culty. 



Under such circumstances, when the weather cleared up, on the 20th, having taken 

 the description of each vessel, and the particulars of her illegal papers, I considered 

 it right to release all except the Creole, now in the vice-admiralty court at Halifax, 

 and two vessels without certificates of registry (afterward released). 



I beg to annex a summary of the defects of the papers of the vessels detained, whirh 

 will show the amount of difficulty I was involved in, and the cause of tho length ot 

 the detention. 



I consider it my duty to call your attention, respectfully but earnestly, to thi.< al 

 stract, which shows that fraud to an enormous extent is perpetrated, ami that, fr 

 the almost total disregard of the several acts of Parliament tor regulating the o 

 cantile marine of Great Britain and the Colonies, especially at the outport-t, it i car 

 ried on with comparative impunity, and that it must be HO until the c:>rrectne-s* of 

 papers of vessels of real British ownership enables an officer to detect fraud, whicl 

 impossible under existing circumstances. 



I have also to represent how beneficial it would be for the service if 

 armed vessels employed for the protection of the fisheries were instructed to as*i*t II* 

 Majesty's ships in the execution of the duty, a provision which in the case 

 Canadian brigantine was attended with such beneficial results. 



I cannot close this part of my report without mentioning my reasons fo 

 much on the mackerel fishery. 



Firstly. That fishery is the only cause of foreign encroachment iu the par 

 in which Her Majesty's sloop has lately been stationed. 



Secondly. The mackerel affords the best bait to our fisheries: and w 

 cans havd encroached, not only have they been deprived of it, but I 

 have been rained by the offal thrown over on the ground. 



