AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1861 



Mr. FOSTER. He states that the catch of mackerel has largeh fallen 

 off during the last five or six years. 



Mr. THOMSON. I cannot rea^l all through this affidavit. They are vcrv 

 interesting reading, I dare say, but they take time. 



In affidavit No. 192, Appendix M, I find that Philip Hyau says: 



I, Philip Ryan, do solemnly declare that I am living at Middle Milford. I am 4-> ywir 

 of age. I think I was about 16 years of ape when I first went out titling in th* (iulf of 

 St. Lawrence in fishing-vessels. I have mostly been mackerel-fulling, although *ome ar- 

 sons I have been cod-fishing in the bay. I left off going in fi*hiiig-vr*!teU in l.-Ctf. The 

 American fishermen don't dry their nets nor cure their fish on our coats an fur M I know. 

 During the last eight or ten years mackerel -tishin; has much fallen off. and during the Ut 

 two years, as far as I can hear, mackerel-fishing 1ms almost been a failure. 1'orgie* and 

 clams, as far as I know, is universally used in the bay as bait, although a few provincial 

 vessels may occasionally use herring. Porgies and clams get all from the State* a* far M I 

 am aware. I should think that about one-half of all the mackerel caught by v,-..-;, U 

 caught outside a line 3 miles from shore. 



Now, that is what he says. This, you see, is contained in the Ameri- 

 can testimony, and I say that it is conclusive against the case of the 

 American Government. If they did not like these affidavits, they need 

 not have put them in ; but being in, I say that they are conclusive 

 against the American Case. Besides, there is another matter which sets 

 this question at rest. When Professor Hind was on the stand, he gave 

 evidence which was not only very interesting, but, as I submit, conclu- 

 sive, in view of this conflict of testimouj*. I have no doubt that it was 

 so to the Commission, as certainly it was to us. He pointed out the sci- 

 entific reasons why the fish, such as the cod, mackerel, halibut, and 

 other fish of that description which are useful for food, in habit the Hay of 

 St. Lawrence. He says that these fish must necessarily live in water of 

 the temperature of 37 or 40 degrees, or even of a temperature colder 

 than that. He states that the great Arctic current which brings down 

 from the north those immense icebergs, that make our climate so exces- 

 sively cold and inhospitable quite as "inhospitable* 7 as many of the 

 statutes of which my learned friends opposite have complained, also 

 brings with these icebergs an antidote to the poison, in the shape of 

 these fish of commerce. He says that this cold stream of water enters 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the fish with it, and he points out that on 

 the American coast there can of necessity be but very little fish of this 

 description. He also points out and I am not going to tako up your 

 time by referring to his evidence in cxtenso at all that on three or four 

 pointsmen the American coast this great Arctic current impinges; that 

 it remains there for a certain period of the year, and in the spring that 

 the fish go with it, and remain on the shore there until this cold curren 

 of water recedes ; but that the great "ocean river," as it is called by 

 Lieutenant Maury, the Gulf Stream, in its summer swing, approach 

 very near the American coast in some places, and touching it 

 places, separates the surface current from the colder waters beneal 

 where these fish feed, and thus drives them from the American shor 

 colder regions. He further pointed out that even in the Gulf of 

 rence there are many places where these fish do not live; 

 water of different temperatures are found there, some warmer 

 colder than others ; and that in the colder zones these H 

 in the warmer zones they are unable to live. 



You will recollect, no doubt, without my calling your r 

 ticularly to the evidence, that a number of witnesses, Am 

 British, testified that every now and then after having t 

 out from the inshore waters by throwing pogie bait they * 

 disappear and be lost to them, and this is accounted 1 



