AWARD OF THE F1SHEEY COMMISSION. 2431 



pick up on the Banks. If we were going to have salt bait, we would 

 catch birds and porpoises, and get shack and mix it with them, and that 

 would do us for the season. 



Q. Does your getting fresh bait prevent you getting shack on the 

 Banks? A. Well, we consider fresh bait to be better than salt bait and 

 shack. We have ice-houses and all that kind of thing, and we do not 

 spend any time in looking after shack or in picking it up. 



Q. It must take you some time to get it on the Banks ? A. Yes, ot 

 course ; but when we have fresh bait we do not occupy any time in get- 

 ting that at all. We do not then bother with it. 



Q. What have you on your vessel in the harbor now ? A. About 

 10,000 pounds of codfish, caught within a fortnight. 



Q. Where? A. Just east of what is called Green Island, near Port- 

 land. 



Q. You have not been in Newfoundland for bait for this trip? A. No. 



Q. Did you go there while on your former voyage this year ? A. Yes ; 

 four times. 



Q. How many times did you go to Newfoundland for bait last year ? 

 A. Three times. 



Q. What was the longest time between the time you left the Banks 

 till you returned to them, that you have ever consumed in obtaining 

 bait there? A. Nine days. 



Q. And five days is the shortest time you ever so occupied ? A. Yes. 



Q. Have you ever observed the lantz on the Banks? A. Yes. 



Q. During what mouths? A. It is found there during all the months. 

 I think it comes there in the last of June, and it is to be seen there in 

 July and August different schools are met with ; the spring school is 

 large and the August 1 school small. 



Q. Have you ever observed it there afterward? A. I think it is there 

 in September, and it is found there in October; I have seen them there 

 in the last of the fall. 



Q. Are thecaplin found there? A. Yes, about the Virgin Rocks and 

 the southern part of the Grand Banks; I have seen them there about 

 the first of July and the last of June. 



Q. Have you noticed how long they continue on the Banks? A. I 

 think they stop there about a fortnight. 



Q. In what depth of water have you there seen caplin? A. In four 

 or five fathoms. 



Q. Is that the deepest water in which you have seen them there ? A. 

 I have seen them in 40 fathoms ; the codfish drive them right on to the 

 surface of the water. 



Q. You have always fished with trawls? A. I have also fished with 

 hand-lines; I have fished with trawls during the last two years. We 

 used hand-lines altogether on my first voyage. 



Q. Are you in the habit of taking up much seaweed on your trawls ? 

 A. No ; I do not know anything about that. 



Q. You have not seen this happen ? A. No. 



Q. Do you know as a matter of fact that seaweed is often brought up 

 on the Banks? A. I never knew of it. 



Q. Have you taken the trouble at any time to examine the stomachs 

 of codfish ? A. Yes. 



Q. And have you found any small shell-fish in their stomachs ? Yes, 

 plenty of them. 



Q. Does that occur at all times during the fishing season ? A. Yes, 

 more or less. 



Q. What is the food which you have principally found in their stom- 



