2346 AWARD OF THE FISHER? COMMISSION. 



Q. Have you caught mackerel within three miles of the shore any- 

 where, and, if so, name all the places, and tell the Commission all you 

 know about the extent of the fishing at those places ? A. I got 90 bar- 

 rels one day. I did not judge myself anything more than three miles 

 out, and I don't think I was. I think I was within three miles of the 

 land ; when we hove to after we had done fishing, we were six or seven 

 miles off. The wind was right off land. 



Q. Where was that ? A. At Margaree. Aside of that, I don't recol- 

 lect getting a dozen barrels of mackerel at any place inshore round the 

 whole bay. 



Q. In one day, do you mean, or altogether ? A. In any one time. I 

 might have picked up fifty barrels, aside of these wash-barrels, inside 

 of the line all round the bay. 



Q. So far as you have observed fishing within three miles of the shore, 

 where is the most of it done in the gulf ? A. At Margaree Island, the 

 most I have seen done. It is the only place there is any fish inshore 

 that I know of. 



Q. Why is that? Explain. A. When the fish come down out of the 

 bay in the fall we calculate that those which go through the Gut of Canso 

 strike Margaree, unless the wind blows from the south and then they go 

 round Cape North. They strike down to Margaree. Sometimes we can 

 get them half way across to East Point, and afterwards two-thirds of the 

 way from there towards Margaree, and if there is a heavy north wind it 

 drives them near the shore. I never saw them caught inside of one 

 mile or two miles, for the land there is very high, and one mile^ does not 

 look much distance where the land is so high. 



Q. When you speak of fishing off Margaree do you know if there is 

 any fishing between the island and mainland there ? A. I never saw a 

 mackerel caught there, but I don't know that it has not been done. 



Q. When you measure distances do you measure them from the main- 

 land or the island ? A. From the island. 



Q. Then you mean inshore of the island ! A. Yes. I consider the 

 island land. 



Q. Have you ever fished off Prince Edward Island ? A. Yes. I have 

 fished all round the east side wherever anybody fished. 



Q. Did you fish within taree miles of the shore there ? A. No. It is 

 a rare thing that ever you get mackerel within the three miles. When 

 they come within three miles they rise in schools, and we never calcu- 

 late to do much out of them, but from four to six or seven miles off is 

 the common fishing ground there. 



Q. Did you ever go to Seven Islands in the gulf? A. Yes, I have 

 been there three times. I never got 20 barrels of mackerel. 



Q. How near inshore did you try there ? A. I tried close in there 

 and I did not find any. They used to catch them broad off and then 

 the story was that some vessels caught them close in. Some of the Eng- 

 lish boats told me they had done well close in to St. Anne. 



Q. St. Anne is on the other side of the river? A. It is on the south 

 side, right across. 



Q. Did you ever try seining for mackerel in Bay St. Lawrence ? A. 

 Yes. I took a seine once and went up to Seven Islands, and from there 

 down through the Straits to Anticosti, down by Mingan, up through 

 the inside of Mecatina, to St. Augustine and Dog Island, and from there 

 to Old Fort. I was ordered to go and stop there. 



Q. Where is Old Fort ? A. It is on the Labrador coast. 



Q. Whatmiccess had you in seining ? A. I never got a scale. I went 

 from there to Five Islands, Newfoundland, Bonne Bay, and over to the 



