1918 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



latiou ? A. I know but little about it. I used to go to the Bay of St. 

 Lawrence. 



Q. Why did you come up here ? A. I pursued the fishery in the Bay 

 of St. Lawrence, but between Newburyport and Cape Cod the fisher- 

 men pursued it along our own shores. 



Q. Did you ever see vessels fishing along the American coast ? A. I 

 know that they used to do better there than we did here. 



Q. Then why did you not stop and fish there ? A. Because I thought 

 that they could do better there than we could. We had always been 

 accustomed to come here, and we could not go anywhere else, as will be 

 the case with any man when he has got into a habit. 



Q. And you kept this losing business up ; not to put it too strong, 

 you continued this business in which you only made enough to pay for 

 interest and wear and tear ? A. I did not say that we lost by it. 



Q. But you only made enough to pay interest and wear and tear on 

 the vessel ? A. Yes ; and the depreciation on the vessel, and when we 

 did that we thought we had done well. 



Q. And you passed vessels fishing on the American shore and doing 

 better than you could ? A. We could not all get crews and go there 

 and fish. They were brought up to that kind of fishing and they could 

 get crews for it, but we could not. 



Q. Why not ? A. We did not have enough men, and men were 

 scarce. 



Q. Do they take a larger number of men on vessels fishing along the 

 American coast than they do in the bay ? A. No; they take just the 

 same number. 



Q. Why, then, were you prevented fishing on the American coast ? 

 A. We could not get crews to stay there. The men had themselves no 

 faith in the shore fisheries. 



Q. This was fishing ten miles offshore? A. The men were brought 

 up to fishing here, and they thought that they must come here and fish. 



Q. Were they not just as able to manage a vessel and fish as other 

 men ? A. I do not know but what they were just as good fishermen, 

 but they never fished there, and we could not get them to go on George's 

 Bank, they had such a dread of it. 



Q. I am not referring now to George's Bank. How many miles is 

 that from the shore? A. About 100 miles. 



Q. I am speaking of the fisheries in which you have been engaged 

 during the last two years, about 10 miles out from the shore ? A. I call 

 George's Bank our shore fisheries. 



Q. Then do I understand, when you speak of having made $2,000 a 

 year for the last six years, that you refer to George's Bank, which you 

 call the shore fishery ? A. We go there at certain times of the year. 



Q. Do I understand you so to include that Bank ? A. I never did but 

 little of that kind of fishing. 



Q. Will you answer the question f Do you approve of that or not ? 

 A. 1 do not, in my case. I can leave it out in my case. 



Q. Did you fish there during that time? A. I was there twice dur- 

 ing that period. 



Q. Did you get any fish there ? A. I obtained about 10 barrels. 



Q. The trip down there was a failure? A. It was in my case. I just 

 simply go across there from the south to try for a week or ten days with 

 the other vessels. 



Q. Then your experience of George's Bank during the last 8 or 10 

 years is that the fishing there has been a failure ? A. The vessels that 

 stop there and fish do first rate. 



