AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2275 



Q. Do you know much about fishing with pounds and nets on the 

 shores of Massachusetts? A. No. I don't know anything at all about 

 pounds and nets. They have some pounds over there at Cape Cod. I 

 don't know anything about them. 



Q. But you know that from Gloucester all up and down the coast of 

 Maine a great deal of inshore fishing is done with nets and seines and 

 pounds ? A. There are not a great many pounds on the coast of Maine. 



Q. Are there on the coast of Massachusetts ? A. There are at Cape 

 Cod. 



Q. They fish from the shores with nets and seines ! A. Yes. 



Q. Do you know much about that ? A. I have seen them hauling in 

 their nets. 



Q. Has not that kind of fishing on the coast very much increased ? 

 They have increased in the business, but the fish have decreased. The 

 fish are decreasing all the time. 



Q. The number of fish caught? A. Yes; but the business has in- 

 creased. 



Q. How can that be ? A. I mean the vessels and the boats. 



Q. More vessels, boats, and seines are employed than there used to 

 be? A. Yes. 



Q. One word more about the people in Newfoundland. Do they de- 

 pend upon the Americans for selling their ice and herring f A. Deci- 

 dedly they do. There is nobody else there that buys, except us. They 

 don't use any ice except what we want. There is no other nation want- 

 ing the herring except the Americans. 



Q. Is it a sure thing to get bait there? A. It has been a very sure 

 thing. It has always been since I have been there. 



Q. What about those vessels that are there so long and don't get 

 bait? A. Spending their time in foolishness, I suppose ; I don't know. 



By Sir Alexander Gait : 



Q. About this Newfoundland bait ; you have spoken ot herring only, 

 but we have heard here that there are caplin and squid f A. Yes. 



Q. Now, what do you do about those ? Do you buy them ? A. We 

 buy the squid and caplin too. 



Q. And do you get them under the same sort of arrangement that 

 you have described ? A. No; we buy the squid by the 100 pounds, and 

 the caplin by the barrel. 



Q. Do you catch squid yourselves ? A. No; we buy them. 



By Mr. Davies: 



Q. Do yon ever assist iu catching squid ? A. No; we pay them forty 

 or fifty cents a hundred. We are paying pretty high, and don't feel 

 like assisting them. If a man catches tour or five thousand squid 111 

 one day at that rate he is doing pretty well. 



Q. One question more. Do I understand correctly that if you employ 

 a man to catch herring, and he is unsuccessful, you consider yourself 

 bound to pay him ? A. I would pay him, but I never had to do so. 

 never employed a man but what he caught them. 



No. 29. 



JOSEPH O. PROCTER, of Gloucester. Mas*., merchant, called on be- 

 half of the Government of the Tufted States, sworn and examined. 



By Mr. Trescot : 

 Question. You are a native and resident of Gloucester ? Answer. I am. 



