AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 3435 



testimony that be said bad been before this tribunal one class of testi- 

 mony being that the large proportion, say two-thirds, of the mackerel 

 were caught within three miles of the shores all through the gulf; the 

 other class of witnesses stating that two thirds or three-fourths were 

 caught outside and the remainder inside. You were asked which you 

 would consider the true testimony, or, perhaps, the question would be 

 put, which would be the most in accordance with your theory which 

 you have stated here. You answered, as I understood, that the testi- 

 mony of those who said two thirds were caught inside would be more ill 

 accordance? A. Yes, tor the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



Q. Including all parts of the gulf; is that taking the gulf as a whole? 

 Including the chief mackerel grounds, Prince Edward Island, Bay Cha- 

 leurs, and the north and south shores of the estuary of the St. Law- 

 rence. 



Q. Not including the Banks ? A. No. 



Q. Then you didn't mean your answer to apply to the whole gulf, 

 Banks, eddy, and everything ? A. No. 



Q. I think it would have been misunderstood otherwise. The question 

 where the greater part are caught depends somewhat, does it not, upon 

 whether the people use boats or vessels, which depends upon conditions 

 of convenience and economical considerations. There are various con- 

 siderations which may induce people to fish, inside or outside. People 

 that come in from a distance must come in large vessels, and would nat- 

 urally fish outside, whereas people that live along the shores would 

 catch with boats ; so that, taking the question whether the fishing 

 is done in the bay as a whole, it depends, does it not, upon a variety 

 of circumstances? A. I understood the question to be more particu- 

 larly with regard to the manner in which the mackerel are caught in- 

 shore in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in contradistinction to the manner in 

 which they are caught upon the American shore, and I think I stated 

 that in the Gulf of St. Lawrence the tendency of scientific observation 

 would be to show that the greatest portion of the mackerel are caught 

 inshore, whereas on the American shore, owing to the temperature of 

 the water, the greater portion would be caught outside. 



Q. Would be found, rather ? A. Yes ; would be found. 



Q. The question as to where they would be caught would depend upon 

 a variety of circumstances such as I have referred to. Those you don't 

 include. Y"ou spoke of what was discharged from the mouths of rivers 

 and the dams and factories, which prevented the passage up the rivers 

 along the American coast of the fish from the sea, which you thought 

 must have the effect of diminishing the number of the commercial fish 

 which followed them. In this connection you spoke of what had been 

 done here to remedy such evils; are you aw ire that in New England 

 very great pains have been taken to secure the passage of the fish up be- 

 yond the dam ? A. Yes. 



Q. And did you know that statutes had been passed, and decisions of 

 the courts given, compelling even the oldest dams to allow a place for 

 the passage of the fish ? A. Yes. 



By Mr. Foster : 



Q. In speaking of codfish I wanted to know if you were aware that 

 within the last two or three years, oti' Block Island, at the mouth of Long 

 Island Sound, large quantities of cod have been taken in new places, 

 where they were not known to be before, and where they have not beeu 

 fished for before, through the spring and autumn months A. Up to 

 June they are caught, and then in the autumn. 



