2544 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



catch in tbe bay per vessel during these ten years was 239 barrels, and 

 such average on our shore was 538i barrels ; the result of the stock of 

 the vessels which fished on our shore exceeded that of those which 

 fished in the bay by $05,299. 



Q. I notice that since your fishing firm was organized the mackerel 

 which have been taken on the Uuited States shore have not brought so 

 much by the barrel as the bay mackerel; will you explain the reason 

 for this ? A. In the early part of the year the catch of our vessels was 

 quite large and prices then run low, while the mackerel caught then are 

 small and of poor quality, so that though the average number of barrels 

 taken on our shore is larger, the price realized has been smaller on the 

 average. 



Q. Compare the prices of the shore and bay mackerel for the months 

 extending from the time when fishing usually begins in the bay from 

 June out to the end of the season. A. Our bay fishing commences 

 about the 1st of July, and I have only the figures for the whole catch. 



Q. I only want to know whether the shore or the bay mackerel would 

 sell at the higher price during those months? A. Our shore ones 

 fetch the most money. 



Q. Suppose that you can catch mackerel on the United States shore 

 at the same time that you do so in the bay, and then compare the 

 prices of these mackerel caught from that date onward ; would the 

 shore mackerel be more or less in price than the bay mackerel ? A. 

 "Well, I do not know that I could answer that question ; I have never 

 figured it up, and I have no statistics to guide me to a conclusion re- 

 specting it. 



Q. How many vessels have you in the Gulf of St. Lawrence this 

 year? A. Two. 



Q. What are their names? A. The EttaGott and the Margie Smith. 



Q. What has been the result of their voyages? A. The Etta Gott 

 has landed and shipped home 220 barrels, caught at the Magdalen 

 Islands and Bird Kocks. 



Q. How do you know where they were caught? A. From what the 

 captain has written me, and what my brother, who was in the vessel 

 and who came home, has told me. 



Q. Did the Etta Gott go seining? A. Xo, she went with books and 

 lines. 



Q. How was it with the other vessel ? A. She went out on the same 

 day and carried a seine. I heard from her a day or two before I came 

 away, and she then had GO barrels. 



Q. Do you know where she had been fishing ? A. Yes ; around 

 Prince Edward Island. 



Q. How do you know that! A. From letters which were frequently 

 sent me. 



Q. During how many years have you been in the habit of using a 

 seine on the United States shore ? A. Some 10 years. 



Q. And has a large part of the mackerel which has been caught on 

 that shore during the time that your present firm has existed been 

 taken with seines ? A. The largest part has been so taken. 



Q. Have you prior to this year tried seiuing in the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence? A. !No. 



Q. Have you known seiuing to be successful there ? A. I never knew 

 any one to make a voyage by seining there. 



Q. Do you know any reasons why seining has not succeeded in the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence? A. One cause is due to the shallowness of the 

 water in it ; and then the mackerel do not seem to school or play on the 



