1912 AND FISHERIES COMMISSION. 17 



It must, of course, be noted that very extensive fish hatchery opera- 

 tions have been in force in the American waters above mentioned, while 

 on the Canadian side only comparatively trifling efforts have been made 

 in this direction in the case of the North Channel, and none in the case 

 of Lake Superior, but, having' regard simply to the question of the limi- 

 tation of nets, the tables above given are interesting as showing, firstly, 

 that the price of whitefish in Canada should have been considerably 

 less to the consumer than in the States in view of the less cost of 

 production as proved by the higher percentage of catch of the Canadian 

 nets, although, unfortunately, this has not been the case, and secondly, 

 that in the case of Lake Superior two apparently similar areas, in one 

 of which a considerably higher percentage of nets has been in use than 

 in the other, that i^, an area with a limited as against an area with an 

 almost unlimited number of nets, both show a steady decrease, proving 

 apparently thereby that both were removing more fish than the avail- 

 able increase could withstand, which, again, should serve to emphasize 

 the very obvious fact that where the limitation of nets is carried to such 

 a point that the catch of the nets is less than the normal increase, the 

 result must be an augmentation of the numbers of fish in the waters. 



It would seem then that in the limitation of nets there exists a 

 practical means of maintaining the balance between the yearly fish crop 

 and the annual increase to be anticipated in particular varieties of 

 fish, of affording the fish reasonable security against annihilation in 

 traversing narrows or channels, and, in a measure, of regulating the 

 cost of capture and in consequence, the price to the consumer. 



Close Seasons. 



The main object of a close season for fish is to enable the fish to 

 perform its breeding functions in security. It is the habit of practi- 

 cally all the more valuable commercial fresh-water fishes to journey to 

 the shoal places of the lakes, or up into the creeks and rivers, to spawn, 

 and consequently, during tlie period in which the fish is passing through 

 narrows or channels on its way to and from the spawning beds, or is 

 occupied on the beds in the business of reproduction, it is peculiarly 

 vulnerable to the attacks of the commercial net fisherman. Conse- 

 quently, unless some protection is afforded to the fish at these periods 

 an enormous quantity of ripe spawn will remain undeposited, which 

 fact in its turn will evidently have a sinister effect on the natural 

 increase of a future year, that is, on the quantities of young fish avail- 

 able to take the place of tliose disappearing through natural processes 

 or owing to the operations of the commercial net fishermen. 



Reference has been made in a preceding section to the fact that, 

 under the treatment of modern scientific hatchery equipment, a far 

 greater percentage of eggs can be hatched out than would take place in 

 the course of nature, but in the same section it was also attempted to 

 prove that under no circumstance could it be the part of wisdom to seek 



