3294 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



in the Gulf of St Lawrence must stock at least $6,000,00 to pay her bills. 

 Very few vessels have paid their bills for the last 4 years in the Bay 

 I carried no Seine but depended upon the hook & line I did not catch 

 one fifth of my Mackerel within three miles. A purse seine as now used 

 cannot well be used inshore I dressed most of my Mackerel outside, 

 whenever we dress inshore the fishing boats from shore come off for the 

 Mackerel Gills and offal to bait their trawls with. Most of the shore 

 boats use trawls for fish. The Nova Scotia North Cape fishermen, that 

 is Schooners, get all the Mackerel offal they can to bait their trawls. 

 This bait is the best for Cod fishing Mackerel fit for the Market are 

 worth too much to use for bait for Cod fish to any extent 



I have been Ten Winters to Newfoundland for Herring. I carried 

 nets only one voyage and that was last winter. I set my nets two nights 

 the second night they were stolen. I had ever before bought my Her- 

 ring from the Newfoundland fishermen, paying at the rate of one Dollar 

 per Bbl in gold "When I first went to Newfoundland the Inhabitants 

 were very poor hardly owning a boat or net. They had no market for 

 their Herring years ago except the Nova Scotia fishermen but upon the 

 advent of the Americans fleet the prices rose from 3 shillings up to Ten 

 Shilling per Barrel. The Merchants on the west side of Newfoundland 

 send vessels to Fortune Bay for Herring and once had them at their own 

 price. Now the American fishermen having raised the price paid to the 

 poor operative the British traders cannot have them at their own price 

 and pay for them in trade consequently they the traders are jealous 

 of the Americans and would do anything to keep them away. The Amer- 

 icans have absolutely raised up this population of poor operative fisher- 

 men from poverty and made them independent in their business and of 

 the grinding and debasing influence of the trading capitalist, if the fish- 

 ermen were in the hands of the traders they would keep them at the 

 Codfishery entirely and make them dependent on the traders, but now 

 the fishermen can supply the .American fleet with Herring and be inde- 

 pendent and prosperous, there has long been this state of feeling there 

 and it has culminated in various acts of violence Many of the operative 

 fishermen now have good houses and own boats and nets where formerly 

 they had neither, except a log hut, and all this is derived from the trade 

 with Americans. 



The Magdalen Island fishery for Herring is carried on in the following 

 manner. The American vessels do not go prepared to catch Herring. 

 They go from Gloucester with 3 or 4 men and at Canso hire a Seine & 

 Boats and men enough to handle it They pay for use of Seine 100 Dol- 

 lars for a boat & man 40 Dollars for the trip generally hire 3 boats to 

 each vessel and about six men The English fishermen haul the seine 

 on shore with the Herring and the Americans, hire the herring brought 

 of in boats by the people of the Island and in case of packing hire women 

 to dreso and pack. The whole operative portion of the voyage being 

 done by the inhabitants and they being paid for it. It is the general 

 and universal custom to pack them on the vessel as there are no wharves 

 and it would be very unhandy to do the work on the beach I never 

 knew of Americans being denied the right to seine Herring at the Mag- 

 dalen Islands I have never paid any Port Charges at these Islands or 

 Customs duties 



At Fortune Bay Newfoundland they make us pay duties on Barrel* 

 and salt whether they are landed or not. 



W. H. KIEBY 



