2480 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



ton, and two or three barrels off Prince Edward Island ? A. Did I say 

 that two or three barrels were taken off Prince Edward Island, or two 

 or three barrels each time we tried ? 



Q. Would it surprise you to hear that three-fourths or seven-eighths 

 of the fish caught by boat-fishermen are taken within three miles, and 

 almost within two miles, of the shore ? A. I would be very much so. 



Q. Your theory would fall to the ground ? A. I should think so. 



Q'. Your experience in the gulf is confined to five seasons ? A. That 

 is all : and part of that I remember very little of. 



Q. You don't know what the other vessels have taken, or where their 

 catches were taken ? A. No. 



Q. Y"ou wish to confine your experience to that obtained in your ves- 

 sel ? A. Yes. 



Q. You wish the reason why mackerel could not be taken inshore to 

 be received that it is because the water is too shallow, and that there 

 must be 20 or 25 fathoms ? A. That is the way I caught mackerel my- 

 self. 



Q. Do you mean that that is with hand-lines or seines ? A. That is 

 with hand-lines. I have never been seining. 



Q. Do you know why seines are not successful in the gulf? A. I 

 don't know. I have heard various reasons given. 



Q. Have you ever heard that it was because the mackerel were too 

 close to the shore to enable the seiners to catch them ? A. I have heard 

 that reason. 



Q. Have you heard it from fishermen ? A. I don't know but that I 

 have. 



Q. Have you any doubt about it ? A. I cannot say I have or that I 

 have not. I may have heard so. 



Q. That they cannot seine mackerel because they are in too shallow 

 water? A. They have been seined there this summer. 



Q. To any large extent ? A. I don't know to how large an extent. 



Q. Do you know whether any seiners have adapted their seines to the 

 waters of the gulf ? A. I cannot say as to that ; I have not been there. 



Q. So, practically, you know very little about the fishing in the gulf? 

 A. I admit I know very little about it, and I will do less than I do now. 



Q. You find your present position more profitable than that of a mack- 

 erel fisherman ? A. Probably my present position may not continue 

 long. 



By Mr. Whiteway : 



Q. Have you been many seasons to the Grand Banks fishing? A. Xo. 



Q. How many times ! A. Perhaps once or twice. 



Q. When were those occasions? A. I cannot give you the dates. 



Q. Nor the years ? A. Xo. 



Q. Did you fish with salt or fresh bait ? A. I have been there and 

 fished with salt bait altogether some seasons. When I sailed out of 

 Provincetown I fished with salt bait altogether. 



Q. Have you ever used fresh bait on the Grand Banks? A. I have 

 part of a voyage, part of the season. 



Q. Where did you get it? A. We bought it at Prospect, above 

 Halifax. 



Q. What year was it that you went into St. Mary's Bay for caplin ? 

 A. That was the year I was iu the Pocumtuc; in the spring we went in 

 there. We did not go in exactly for bait, but in coining out we bought 

 Some caplin. I cannot tell you the year. 



Q. How many barrels did you buy ? A. About 15 barrels. 



