2920 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



Q. Since there is a limited supply altogether ? A. I think that per- 

 sons who wish to eat fresh mackerel would never eat salt mackerel. 



Q. You think they give up the use of salt mackerel altogether? A. 

 Not altogether, but to a certain extent. 



Q. How is it with regard to codfish? A. Cod are also shipped fresh. 



Q. Is the demand for salt codfish declining ? I think not. I think 

 that the demand for salt codfish is increasing. I think that these are 

 taken in preference to mackerel as an article of food, as they are, I be- 

 lieve, obtained in better condition, as an article of food, than is the case 

 with salt mackerel, 



Q. You gave us to understand that one man who carried on the fish- 

 ing business in Gloucester went West ; did he do a very large business 

 in Gloucester? A. He had quite a number of vessels six or eight, I 

 think, employed in the business. 



Q. I suppose that the fish sent West are sent to him in large quanti- 

 ties ? A. I think that he is not a buyer of fresh sea-fish at least I aui 

 not aware of it; I think that he deals in salt sea-fish. 



No. 75. 



JAMES A. PETTES, fisherman and hotel-keeper, of Grand Manan, was 

 called on behalf of the Government of the United States, sworn and 

 examined. 



By Mr. Trescot : 



Question. You live at Grand Manan ? Answer. Yes. 



Q. How long have you lived there 1 A. Since I was 7 years of age. 



Q. Where were you born ? A. In Boston. 



Q. What is your present occupation ? A. I am a hotel-keeper and I 

 flsh in winter. 



Q. Do you fish yourself, or buy fish, or fit out fishing-boats ? A. I 

 fish and I buy fish. 



Q. How long have you been keeping an hotel there? A. I could not 

 say exactly, but I have done so for 10 or 15 years. I live at North 

 Head, Grand Manan. 



Q. What is the population of Grand Manan ? A. It is somewhere 

 about 2,000; it is now some time since the census was taken. 



Q. What proportion of its people would you say are engaged in fish- 

 ing ? A. I should think less than one-fifth of the population do so, or 

 350 people. 



Q. What fisheries are prosecuted there? A. The cod, hake, pollack, 

 and herring fisheries, besides haddock; but very few of them are taken ; 

 and smoked herring are put up, and frozen herring in winter, and some 

 few pickled herring. 



Q. With regard to smoked and frozen and pickled herring, who are 

 the fishermen employed to catch them ? Where do they come from ? 

 A. These are mostly natives of the island. 



Q. Is there any large proportion of Americans employed in fishing 

 there? A. No ; not a large, but a very small proportion is so engaged. 



Q. In your long experience in the island, how many American vessels 

 go there for the purpose of fishing ? A. Of vessels, scarcely any come 

 there ; but small open boats, of something like from 3 to 5 tons, come 

 there occasionally from Eastport and Lubec. 



Q. Then the herring fishery is exclusively a fishery in which the 

 natives are engaged ? A. Yes ; nearly altogether. 



Q. Do you know whether the bulk of the smoked herring is sent from 



