1600 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



think therefore, that I need spend more time, either upon the cod-fish- 

 erv or the question of buying bait or procuring bait for cod fishing. 

 " What shall I say of the United States herring fishery, alleged to exist 

 at Grand Manan and its vicinity? Three British witnesses testify to 

 an annual catch of one million, or one and a half million dollars' worth 

 by 1'nited States fishermen in that vicinity, all caught inshore. But 

 these witnesses do not name a single vessel, or captain, or give the name 

 of any place from which such vessels come, except to speak in general 

 terms of the Gloucester fleet. These witnesses are McLean, McLeod, 

 and MrLaughlin. The fish alleged to be taken are chiefly herring. I 

 shall not stop to read their evidence, or comment upon it in detail. 

 They are contradicted by several witnesses, and by several depositions 

 tiled in the case, which you will find in the supplemental depositions 

 lately printed ; all of whom state, what we believe to be clearly true, 

 that the herring trade by the United States vessels in the vicinity of 

 Grand Manan is purely a commercial transaction; that our fishermen 

 cannot afford the time to catch herring ; that their crews are too large 

 and their vessels too expensive to engage in catching so poor a fish as 

 herring ; that it is better for them to buy and pay for them, and that so 

 they uniformly do. The members of the Gloucester firms who own and 

 send out these vessels tell you that they go without nets, without the 

 appliances to catch herring at all, but with large sums of money; they 

 bring back the herring, and they leave the money behind them. 



This question seems to me to be disposed of by the report of the 

 Commissioner on the New Brunswick Fisheries for 1876. 



Mr. Yenning, the inspector of fisheries for New Brunswick, quotes in 

 his report on Charlotte County (pp. 266 and 267), from Overseer Cun- 

 ningham, of the Inner Bay. Some attempt was made to show that 

 Overseer Cunningham, although the official appointed for the purpose, 

 <lid not know much about it ; but it will be observed that his statements, 

 as well as those of Overseer Best (whose evidence is next quoted), 

 are atlinned by Mr. Yenning, the inspector of fisheries for New Bruns- 

 wick, and inserted in his report under his sanction ; and I think that 

 with the minister 01 marine and fisheries, himself from New Brunswick, 

 at the head of the department, erroneous statements on a subject relat- 

 ing to the fisheries of his own province were not likely to creep into 

 otticial documents and remain there unobjected to. I think we must 

 ajiHiime that these official statements are truer and more reliable than 

 the accounts that come from witnesses. Overseer Cunningham says: 



Tin- winter herring fishery, I am sorry to say, shows a decrease from the yield of last 



I believe, is owing to the large quantity of nets, in fact miles of them, 



Mnji wt l.y I'tiited Stat fishermen all the way from Grand Manan to Leprean, and 



in the hay, by the Wolves, sunk from 20 to 25 fathoms, which kept the fish 



iing into this bay. In this view I am borne out by all the fishermen with 



k-t- rotiverwd on the subject. Our fishermen who own vessels have now to 



v of hix to eight miles oft' shore before they can catch any. The poorer 



TIIHMI, who have nothing but small boats, made but a poor catch. How- 



rniK the winter months, there were caught and sold in a frozen state to United 



i 1,'JOO barrels, at from $4 to 5 per barrel. The price being somewhat 



't year, helped to make up the deficiency in their catch. 



Then he ;r<n>s on to speak of the injurious effect of throwing over 



which, he says, is practiced by 1 provincial fishermen as well as ' 



mm, and says that, "as they are fishing far off shore a week at 



ime, thin destructive practice can be followed with impunity and 



out detection." And Overseer Best speaks of the falling off in 



inning, but Hays that the yield of herring has exceeded that of the 



year, disagreeing with his friend, Overseer Cunningham. He 



