AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2045 



By Mr. Weatherbe : 



Q. You say that the mackerel fishery is one which is very likely ud 

 denly to revive? A. Yes. 



Q. You have heard of many large catches like this in the buy ? A 

 Yes. 



Q. You have mentioned several years in which your vessel* have not 

 done very well ; what years were these f A. This WHS the caAe duriujf 

 some 3, 4, or 5 years. 



Q. On other occasions previously, the catch in the mackerel fishery 

 was diminished ? A. Yes. There have been tips and downs in it. 



Q. How long did this last? A. Not more thau a year or HO. Are 

 ;,ou alluding to the fisheries on our coast ! 



Q. No ; but to the fisheries ill the bay ? A. The best I ever did iu 

 the bay was during 2 or 3 years. 



Q. How long was the catch from year to year diminished on any pre- 

 vious occasion ? A. Take the period from 1865 down. 



Q. That year 1 have given and other years since f A. I am speaking 

 from my own observation. 



Q. I was asking you to state generally yonr opinion on the subject ; 

 are you only speaking of your own vessels in this relation ? A. 1 wiu* 

 speaking of my own vessels ; yes. 



Q. Your evidence generally relates to your own vessels ! A. Yes, 



Q. You are confining your evidence to your own vessels ! A. I urn 

 doing so, chiefly. I do not know anything more than what I have beard 

 about other vessels which I have spoken with. 1 have given evidence 

 chiefly regarding our own vessels. 



By Mr. Foster : 



Q. You never saw, I suppose, this report of Professor Baird's, from 

 which extracts were read to you ? A. No. 



Q. You were not aware that it was a report with reference to the 

 shore fisheries ? Professor Baird says : " Other sjHM-ies more capricious 

 in their appearance, and belonging essentially to the division of outside 

 fishes, were the mackerel, the bluefish, and so forth." A. I know that 

 this season there were on the coast so they tell me. 



Q. What do Cape Cod rnackerelmen mean by the west shore with re- 

 gard to mackerel-fishing? A. The west shore extends from Point Es- 

 cuminac down to about Miramichi Bay. 



Q. I understood you to say that you fished no farther than from 1 

 to 15 miles above Gaspe and oft' Bouaventure ! A. Yes. 



Q. And north of the Magdalen Islands ? A. Yes. 



Q. When you were asked in reference to passing from Bank 

 to the Magdalen Islands, you spoke of fishing in the guJly; explain what 

 you meant by that term. A. I referred to the gully formed in the 

 deeper water between Bradley and the Magdalen Islands. 



Q. This was when you were going right across from Bank Bradley t< 

 the Magdalen Islands ? A. Yes. 



Q. When you are going in a direct course do you li 

 time between those two places .' A. Yes. 



Q. When you were passing from Bank Bradley to the 

 lands did you fish oil the way ? A. Yes ; often. 



Q. At the end of a mackerel voyage your duty as captain 

 up the account of what had been caught ! A. \es. 



Q. And the account of what each of the crew had caugl 

 this at Wellfleet f Did vou make a separate account 1 



