3438 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



i 



year before the 1st of June. Some years it is considerably before that ; 

 some years not until the 7th of June. 



Q. When is the spring fishery over, and when does the summer fish- 

 ery commence ? A. About a month afterwards. 



Q. You think they disappear early in June and reappear about the 

 1st of July ? A. They reappear about the 1st of July. 



Q. So that the United States fishermen who make their appearance 

 on the Banks about the 1st of July, go there in time for the second ap- 

 pearance of the mackerel ? A. For the summer, yes. 



Q. But there is an abundance of earlier and poorer mackerel which 

 anybody might get ? A. A great abundance. 



Q. Do you know whether, at that time, they take the hook readily ? 

 A. I don't know about that. 



Q. That may be one reason why they have not heretofore been pur- 

 sued ? A. They have caught them in seines. 



Q. 1 know, but there are no Americans here to catch them, and the 

 provincial fishermen don't use seines ? A. I think there is a record of 

 an American vessel catching them with seines. 



Q. You regard the mackerel fishing of the provincial fishermen as 

 undeveloped ? A. Yes. 



Q. The fish are there to be caught, and what the people need is ves- 

 sels and enterprise, skill, and industry to pursue them ? A. Well, I 

 would not go quite as far as that. 



Q. What do they need ? A. In the first place, I think they need a 

 little guidance and instruction. They need also co-operative combina- 

 tion, and also capital. 



Q. Now, would not those pass under the terms " capital and skill " of 

 nay question ? However, if they know how to do it, and could get 

 money to build vessels, you think they could catch large quantities of 

 mackerel early in the season ? A. If they could get money to build 

 vessels. 



Q. Is there any present prospect of that industry developing? A. I 

 think there is. 



Q. Has there been anything done in that direction ? A. I am not 

 aware of it on the coast of Prince Edward Island ; I am aware of it on 

 the coast of Newfoundland ; I am personally aware of a good deal hav- 

 ing been done on the coast of Newfoundland. 



Q. Not for mackerel ? A. Not necessarily. 



Q. You refer to the bounties they have offered ? A. No ; to the co- 

 operative system being beneficial. 



Q. But is. there in the provinces any tendency to engage at the pres- 

 ent time in vessel-fishing for mackerel ? A. I am not aware ; I do not 

 know. 



Q. There were vessels fishing a number of years ago here, but it died 

 out f A. The mackerel fishery of Nova Scotia is enormous. 



Q. Vessels? A. 1 can't say so much for vessels. 



Q. It is vessel-fishing I am asking about, because you have spoken 

 of the necessity of pursuing it in sea-going boats. You are not aware 

 that there was a fleet of vessels here that has disappeared ? A. No. 



Q. Do you know the history of a company formed in Halifax for that 

 purpose which has since disappeared ? A. No; I never heard of it. 



Q. I notice here in your memorandum a report which is from the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, by J. C. Tache, in which he undertakes to give 

 the proportion of the catch from each province ? A. Yes. 



Q. He gives the catch of cod, haddock, herring, and mackerel. Do 

 you know whether the figures are according to your views? He puts 



