2540 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



Q. How wide is the bay there ? A. I do not recollect exactly, but I 

 thiiik it is some 10 miles ; that is, if my recollection is correct. It is some 

 time since I was there. 



Q. Where did you catch your mackerel i a 1857 ? A. On Banks Orphan 

 and Bradley and at the Magdalen Islands; and along in the fall, about 

 the time we went home, we fished towards the Cape Breton shore. 



Q. Did you fish off the Cape Breton shore ? A. I do not recollect of 

 catching many mackerel there in 1857, but we then took a few off Mabou, 

 I think ; we might have caught 50 barrels or so off that shore that year, 

 but as to this I have to depend on my memory. 



Q. When did you go towards the Cape Breton shore ? A. could not 

 tell you now just the time, but we usually got there by the 10th or the 

 15th of October. 



Q. What harbor did you make there ? A. Port Hood usually. 



Q. Where did you catch your mackerel in 1858 ? A. We fished during 

 the early part of the season on what we call the Pigeon Hill ground 

 and on Bank Orphan; and after Septetnbar we went to the Magdalen 

 Islands. 



Q. Bid you fish off the Cape Breton shore in 1858 on your way home ? 

 A. We are almost always in the last part of the season because the 

 weather then becomes blowy down about that way for a spell ; I think 

 we caught some there that year, though I cannot recollect exactly, but 

 I would not set the quantity at over 50 barrels. 



Q. How long did you stay in the vicinity of Port Hood whither it was 

 your habit in the autumn, while on your way home from the fishing 

 grounds, to go ? A. We generally made Port Hood our harbor when 

 there in bad weather ; we would sometimes go in there when it was 

 stormy, and then afterwards go out to grounds some distance off to fish ; 

 we generally made that our harbor for about two weeks in the last part 

 of the season. 



Q. You have described generally your fishing grounds for the rest of 

 the season ; and now explain at what different points in the vicinity of 

 Port Hood you used to fish ? A. We sometimes tried along the Mar- 

 garee shore ; and if we did not find anything there, we would then go 

 off to the Magdalen Islands, or fish half way across between the Cape 

 Breton shore and the Magdalen Islands, where there are good fishing 

 grounds. We used to try there, as it used to be a very good fishing 

 ground. 



Q. This was half way across between Margaree Island and the Mag- 

 dalen Islands ? A. Yes. 



Q. What fishing ground is situated there ? A. I do not know of any 

 particular bank there, but we find that it is on the route by which the 

 mackerel come down the bay from the north ; they are often met with 

 there, and when they do not strike the shore, good fishing is to be had 

 in that quarter. 



Q. Did you fish closer to the shore off Margaree Islands than else- 

 where? A. We did ; sometimes we fished there within two miles of the 

 shore and sometimes four or five miles off. 



Q. In 1859, you caught 250 barrels in five mouths; where were they 

 taken ? A. We had a very hard year that year, and we picked our fish 

 up so slowly, that I can hardly call to mind where we got them. Dur- 

 ing five months we filled up tlie small number of barrels mentioned, and 

 we fished mostly at the Magdalen Islands, though we may have caught 

 some few elsewhere; but still I cannot call to mind any particularly 

 definite amount in this regard. 



