2940 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



Q. Some of the witnesses have said they anchored right in close and 

 took them in dories ? A. 1 don't know anything of it. 



Q. You fished close on the south shore of the river St. Lawrence ? 

 A. Yes. 



Q. That was well inshore ? A. We got 80 barrels very near inshore. 



Q. That was the only time you fished there? A. Yes; I never fished 

 there before that. 



Q. You have fished about Prince Edward Island six or seven years f 

 A. Yes, off and on. 



Q. What time of the year did you go there fishing generally ? A. 

 Well, after July. We came in about the middle of July, or after that, 

 any time till October. 



Q. What port did you make headquarters ? A. I never made any 

 port unless we would want water. Then we went to Cascumpeque or 

 Malpeque. 



Q. You didn't go to Souris much ? A. We never fished that end. 



Q. You would fish of course as you went out and when going in ? 

 A. Well, if we thought there was any fish we would fish anywhere, 

 but if we came out of harbor we would never think of heaving to until 

 we got 7 miles out. 



Q. I am speaking of the time you had a right to fish there ! A. Well, 

 any time. 



Q. Have you seen the fleet fishing? A. Yes. 



Q. How many ? A. Perhaps 200 sail, scattered about in all directions 

 sometimes, and sometimes bunched up near together. They school off 

 there some years quite plenty. When they school they are wider out 

 than that. 



Q. We have a good deal of evidence on that point. A. Well, that is 

 as far as my experience goes. 



Q. Do you know whether the habits of the mackerel have changed of 

 late years, and whether they are now found nearer than they used to 

 be ? A. No, I could not say. 



Q. Have you heard that ? A. Well, in my experience, I think that 

 when the mackerel are scarce it is more inshore than when plenty. I 

 think that when they are scarce, like this year, there will be more caught 

 inshore than when they are plenty. 



Q. But have you heard from any of your experienced fishermen that 

 the mackerel are taken of late years more inshore than they used to be f 

 A. I haven't asked ; I haven't had many going in. 



Q. When you fished at Margaree, it was inshore f A. What I caught 

 was inshore there, all but once. 



Q. Then you took them outside ? A. Well, in the year of the gale 

 the water was stirred up, and the mackerel didn't come in until the 

 water was still. 



Q. So you went outside ? A. Yes. 



Q. But except that you took them inside. Now, in the fall of the 

 year the fleet generally make a dash at the Cape Breton shore, dou't 

 they, to finish up? A. I think they do. They look to that place, from 

 Cheticamp to Margaree, a good many of them. A great many of them 

 will not go there. 



Q. As a rule, they generally manage to get a good many fish ? A. 

 Well, I don't know about that. I have known a good many that didn't 

 get many. 



Q. What is your personal experience of that ? You caught one hun- 

 dred barrels there one time ? A. I never caught a great mauy fish 

 there. I caught some in 1851 ; I caught, I think, eighty barrels in tbat 



