AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2569 



Q. I see the prices you have got for bay mackerel are very much 

 larger than that which you got for shore mackerel. For instance, take 

 1808, you got $16 a barrel for bay and $11.87 for shore mackerel ? A. 

 The bay mackerel of that year, or the mackerel caught at the Magdalen 

 Islands, were all very large and heavy, and the average was very much 

 higher because there were no poor or small mackerel among them. In 

 the shore catch of that year many of the mackerel were caught early, 

 large quantities in June and July, which made the average lower. 



(,>. You don't know that, because you were not fishing in 1868? A. 

 I know that from the reports of my captains. 



Q. The next year the discrepancy is still greater. In 18G9 you got 

 for bay $10 and for shore $8.75, only about one-half. Is that on account 

 of your catching 3's on your own coast and large mackerel in the bay? 

 A. No; not always. When our vessels went into the bay they got 

 many No. 1's, and along our shore they caught smaller mackerel. 



Q. I don't mean to say that No. 1's are taken round Cape Breton or 

 Prince Edward Island, but I mean round at the Magdalen Islands did 

 they happen to be No. 1's ? A. You may take that year or a series of 

 years, they are always better there. 



Q. Take 1870. You got for your bay mackerel $13 and for shore 

 $8.81 ? A. It is very true. 



Q. That must show that the mackerel caught on your shores are in- 

 ferior to those got in the bay ? A. Not always. 



Q. As a rule? A. As a rule, I don't know that they are. 



Q. Is it not so, according to your experience ? A. The experience of 

 our vessels and the mackerel they laud proves that, on an average, .No. 

 1 shore mackerel was higher than bay. When bay was $18 shore was 

 $22. 



Q. For Block Island mackerel? A. No; for mackerel caught off our 

 coast. 



Q. I am speaking of the prices you got yourself. I will take the last 

 two years ? A. Take this year. 



Q. I have not a return of this year here. In 1875 you got $11.33 for bay 

 and $9.81 for shore. In 1876, $10.20 for bay and $5.80 for shore, nearly 

 double the price for bay. It is a very curious thing that if the bay 

 mackerel are not better you should get double the price. What is the 

 reason ? A. No. 1 mackerel caught here are no better than those caught 

 there. Our vessels went in the bay later in the year, and consequently 

 .their mackerel averaged a higher price. They went in at the season 

 when the mackerel were best. The vessels on our shore fished in the 

 early part of the season and caught poor mackerel, which makes their 

 average lower. 



Q. 1 understand that you did not catch mackerel around Seven Isl- 

 ands or the shores of the river St. Lawrence during your actual fishing 

 operations? A. I never caught any of any account. 



Q. Have you been up there and tried to fish ? A. I have been, up 

 around Bonaventure Island and along that shore. 



Q. Did you ever fish at Seven Islands ? A. I was there once. 



Q. Did you try to fish there? A. I suppose we did try. 



Q. How close to the shore did you try ? A. When I tried there I 

 don't know that I caught any fish, or that I threw bait; I was there for 

 that puipose. We tried close to the shore. 



Q. How close; within half a mile or a mile? A. Within half a mile. 



Q. And the fish taken there are taken that distance from shore ? A. 

 I heard reports that mackerel were there, but I found none there. 



