AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1609 



mackerel was 185,748 barrels ; tbe Maine inspection was 22,193 barrels; 

 the Xew Hampshire inspection was 2,398 barrels. (I am quoting now 

 from Appendix O.) The total amount of the Massachusetts, Maine, and 

 New Hampshire inspection, for the year 1873, is 210,339 barrels. That 

 is tbe entire amount caught b.y United States vessels and boats around 

 our shores, coasts, and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Whatever comes 

 from our vessels appears in the inspection. During that year, we are 

 favored with the returns from Port Mulgrave; and, allowing for a little 

 natural spirit of exaggeration, which some might attribute to the patri- 

 otic feelings of tbe collector, and others to the disposition of American 

 fishermen to tell as good stories of their catch as they can, we h'ud the 

 Port Mulgrave returns to be pretty accurate. They are a few per cent, 

 in excess of the statistics of the catches, with which I have compared 

 them to some extent ; but still are tolerably accurate and fair returns 

 for that year. They give 254 vessels, with an average catch of 348 sea- 

 barrels and 313 packed barrels, aggregating 88,012 sea-barrels. Taking 

 oft* ten per cent, for loss by packing, which accords with the current of 

 the testimony the Port Mulgrave inspector estimates the loss by pack- 

 ing to be 7 per cent., and he estimates 15 barrels off, but the current 

 of the testimony makes it ten per cent. the aggregate was 79,211 packed 

 barrels. Of the 254 vessels, 131 came from Gloucester. Of these 254 

 vessels, 25 were lost that year, a loss of ten per cent, of all the United 

 States vessels that were in the gulf. One-tenth part of all the vessels 

 that came to the gulf that year were lost. That is the largest catch 

 that our vessels have made since the treaty. Of that 79,211 barrels, 

 which were caught by United States vessels in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 in the year 1873, what proportion are you prepared to assume was 

 caught inshore ! Is not a third a liberal estimate ? Taking the Mag- 

 dalen Islands, taking Bank Bradley, taking Orphan Bank, taking Mis- 

 cou Bank, taking the Pigeon Hill grounds, taking the fishing off the 

 bend of the island, that place where Captain liowe said he always found 

 the best and largest fish, inside of New London Head, 12 or 15 miles 

 out taking all these well-known localities into consideration, I ask 

 whether there can be any doubt that it is a very liberal estimate, indeed, 

 to say one-third was caught inshore? 1 do not think that all the mack- 

 erel taken by the United States vessels inshore, in all parts of the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence, averages an eighth or a tenth of the total catch, but I 

 will assume for the moment one third, the proportion which the Execu- 

 tive Council of Prince Edward Island thought a fair average for the 

 shores of their island. That would make 26,404 barrels caught in British 

 territorial waters in that year, the first year of the treaty. What were 

 these mackerel worth ? Mr. Hall tells you that he buys them landed on 

 shore for $3.75 a barrel. After they have been caught, after the time 

 of the fishermen has been put into the business, he buys them for $3.75 

 a barrel. If they are worth $3.75 a barrel when they are caught, what 

 proportion of that sum is it fair to call the right to fish for them worth .' 

 You may set your own figures on that. Call it one-half, one-third, or 

 one-quarter. I should think it was somewhat extraordinary if the right 

 to fish in a narrow zone three miles wide was worth any lajge portion 

 of the value of the fish after they were caught and lauded. But you 

 may estimate that as you please. I will tell you how you will come out 

 if you charge us with having caught a third of our fish inshore that 

 year, and with the full value that Mr. Hall pays for them after they are 

 caught. It is $99.015. 



That was the first year of the treaty, and there were imported into 

 the United States from the British Provinces 90,889 barrels, on which 



