2004 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



Q. Suppose a school of mackerel appeared on your shore at a partic- 

 ular time, and that a day or two afterwards, a large school should ap- 

 pear on the Nova Scotian shore, or in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, then 

 these must be different schools ? A. Tes, certainly. 



Q. Are there not among mackerel not only different schools, but also 

 different species '? A. What I understand by species is the same kind 

 of fish. 



Q. Tes ; but still different species, or varieties, if you will ? A. There 

 are a great many species which belong to the mackerel family, but they 

 are not mackerel. We say that fish are divided into two grand depart- 

 ments, and then into orders, families, and genera, and lastly into species; 

 and besides these there are varieties of fish. 



Q. Are there not different varieties of mackerel ? A. Yes. The 

 mackerel found in the Gulf of St. Lawrence are different from the mack- 

 erel on our coast. You can tell them apart. 



Q. Do you say that there is any difference in the mackerel caught off 

 the American coast, and the mackerel caught, say, off Priuce Edward 

 Island or elsewhere in the Gulf of St. Lawrence? A. I think that 

 these fish are of one species ; but they do not seem to be the same with 

 regard to their size and condition. The gulf mackerel are not in as 

 good condition as ours. I have, however, known the time when the 

 mackerel in the Gulf of St. Lawrence would sell higher by $2 a barrel 

 than those caught on our own coast. This was in 1835, when I went 

 into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. When we came home our mackerel 

 fetched the highest price, and a higher price than the mackerel caught 

 off our own coast. 



Q. Why ? A. Because they were larger, and fat. They were caught 

 off the Magdalen Islands ; but now the gulf mackerel are not as large 

 as those which are taken on our own coast, while they are dark colored 

 and not in so good condition physically as ours. 



Q. Then they are of a different variety ? A. You may call it so. 



Q. When in the Gulf of St. Lawrence did you not fish off Priuce 

 Edward Island? A. I went there once, but while there, during a fort- 

 night, I was cast away twice. 



Q. That was in 1851 ? A. That was my experience with regard to 

 fishing in the Bight of Prince Edward Island. I considered that the 

 part between East Point and North Cape was a dangerous place for a 

 vessel ; and therefore, I kept away from there. 



Q. And this was the only experience you had with respect to the fish- 

 ing off Priuce Edward Islaifd ? A. One night while reefing a foresail, 

 I fished over there and caught half a barrel or so of mackerel ; we were 

 on our way home and not full ; at the time I was within three miles or 

 one mile of the shore, but I would have caught them if the weather had 

 been favorable. 



Q. But mackerel were there? -A. Yes ; and the weather was bad. 



Q. What were the size and quality of these mackerel ? A. They were 

 large and of good quality. 



Q. Some American witnesses have sworn that Prince Edward Island 

 mackerel were trash ? A. I have seen good mackerel caught in the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



Q. Have you ever known any American fishermen to have been 

 wrecked off Prince Edward Island since the great gale of 1851, between 

 1851 and 187G ? A. O, yes ; the schooner Carrie P. Rich was lost near 

 North Cape, Priuce Edward Island, in 1873, in the great gale of that 

 year. This was the year when the fishery clause of the Washington 

 Treaty went into effect. Another of our vessels we sent to the bay 



