2362 AWARD OF THE FISBERY COMMISSION. 



the otber places you spoke of yesterday, were engaged in fishing, where 

 did they catch their tish ! Was it off' the shores of the United States 

 or off the coast of the British provinces, or both ? A. From the Grand 

 Banks to Cape Cod, in every place where they now carry it on. They 

 bad equally as good vessels as anybody, and went all over the shores. 



Q. After what kind of fish? A. All kinds. They did not go so much 

 for halibut our way as for codfish and mackerel. But it is estimated by 

 the best judges of the fisheries that our State has depreciated 60 per 

 cen,t., and in a good many places I know it has 100 per cent. 



Q. What has depreciated ! A. The fishing business. 



By Mr. Weatherbe : 



Q. The reason they do not try to fish on the coast of Maine is because 

 the fishing is better up in the Bay of Fundy ? A. They cannot live by 

 fishing, go where they will. 



Q. 1 thought you told Mr. Foster that you did not know but that the 

 fish were there, but you did not try to fish them there ? A. I did not 

 say we tried to fish for them. I say I did not know but what the fish- 

 ing is very nearly the same as usual. 



Q. Your fishermen do not now try to catch fish on the coast of Maine ? 

 A. They try somewhere ; it is their business. 



Q. I understood you to say they do not try to catch fish on the coast 

 of Maine ? A. I did not say eo. 



Q. Do they try ? A. Yes ; we have plenty of vessels and boats all 

 the time trying to fish on the coast of Maine. 



Q. But the whole business, you say, is bankrupt ? A. Pretty much 

 so; pretty much abandoned. There used to be 125 sail of vessels which 

 fitted out from Castine; I don't know of one this year. 



No. 34. 



SAMUEL T. KOWE, of Gloucester, Mass., fisherman, called on behalf 

 of the Government of the United States, sworn and examined. 



By Mr. Foster : 



Question. Your business has been that of a fisherman and skipper of 

 fishing vessels all your life f Answer. Yes. 



Q. How old are you ? A.' 55 years. 



Q. What was the first year you were in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence 

 fishing for mackerel f A. I was there in 1845. 



Q. You had been in the gulf a good many times before you were cap- 

 tain, had you not? A. No; only one year; one trip. 



Q. When were you first captain ? A. In 1840. 



Q. What was the vessel ! A. Champion. 



Q. When were you in the gulf next ! A. In 1851. 



Q. In what schooner ? A. O'Coiiuell. 



Q. Were you in the gulf afterward ? A. Yes. 



Q. In what years! A. 1851, 1862, 1853, and 1855. 



Q. You were not there in 1854 ! A. No. 



Q. As skipper every time? A. Yes. 



Q. Were you there in any other vessels? A. I was there in the Oco- 

 nowoc. 



Q. What years were you in the gulf in that vessel ? A. 1856, 1857, 

 and 1858 ; three years. 



Q. Then what schooner did go in T A. I was in the Alferetta in 1859. 



Q. How many years did you remain in that vessel ? A. From 1859 

 an til last year. 



