AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION 2151 



were 200 vessels and upwards. I presume that this wan in uwi O r 1*61 

 or 1866. 



Q. The decrease has been steady ? A. The number lia been 

 ishmg. There were 30-odd sail in the gulf last year from our port 

 do not know the exact number now in the bay, but it is a wry 

 fleet. 



Q. Were you Bank fishing from 1868 to 1873 f A. Yen. 



Q. How did you supply yourself with bait when you were cod 

 on the Banks ? A. Well, one year the first year that I went banking 

 I took clams from Gloucester. This was in the spring of IHflS. I took 

 my own bait from Gloucester, caught my trip of flsh, and went no*. 

 I never saw land, in tny remembrance, from the titne I left until 1 re- 

 turned. 



Q. How long were you out on that trip! A. I left home on the 7th 

 of March and made two trips between that date and the l!7th of June. 

 I do not remember the length of time I was on my first trip. 



Q. And the bait which you took out lasted you on each occasion * 

 A. The first did, but during my second trip I c night my own luiL 



Q. What did you catch ? A. Herring. 



Q. During your fishing there, were you in the habit of goin* at all 

 to Newfoundland to buy bait? A. I have bi?en there of late, year*. 



Q. Have you made a practice of it late years ? A. 1 went in for bait 

 the second year I went there. 



Q. What is your opinion as to the respective value of the two ya- 

 terns ? Would the fisherman do better if they fished with the nalt Mill 

 which they may carry to the Banks and trusted to supplying tberasHve* 

 with bait there or in St. Peter's, or by running into Newfoundland for 

 bait ? A. I think that the former is the bast, after they get inco th 

 , habit of using salt bait. I do not know, however, that they would And 

 it so the first year; but I think that this would be the case after they 

 got into the habit of using salt bait. 



Q. Do you consider the vicinity of the Magdalen Island* a dangri 

 fishing place ? A. No; I do not. 



Q. As far as the fishing-ground and the situation of ve*.- 

 stress of weather are concerned, would you not consider jrooraelf * iMi 

 or safer there than anywhere else in the gulf!- 



o Jl TA t" |1 p T* A 



Q. Have you had any large experience in fishing in the Higlit 

 Prince Edward Island * A. Well, 1 have had very little there. 



Q. There is nothing to make the harbors of Prince 1 

 ports of refuge in bad weather preferable to the lee shore of 

 leu Islands !-A. No ; for my part 1 would prefer the Magdalen 

 for such a purpose. One reason for this is that 

 Prince Edward Island harbors is shoal, and in bad woalh 

 there, though when the water is smooth they are vri 

 When the water is rough it is dangerous to go into 

 Island harbors. 



By Mr. Davies : 



Q. You did not fish very much about Prince I 



were you fishing up and down the coa*t of the 

 A. I was there in 1868, in the Julia Grace. { 



Q. Is that the only time you fished around the i 



*Werfo Sre every year more or le.ss T-A. I ,~.~ * I 



have been there every year. 



