34 KEPORT OF ONTARIO GAME No. 52 



Various Methods by which the Provincial Fisheries can be 



Rehabilitated^ and a Strong Fish Market 



Developed in Ontario. 



The situation disclosed in preceding sections renders it apparent 

 that at the present time the Province is not deriving even a reasonable 

 amount of benefit from the possession of immense fisheries, either in 

 revenue or fish food, and that, worse still, the once prolific fisheries are 

 dwindling with alarming rapidity. It has been shown, also, that by a 

 strict enforcement of the close season, by seeing to it that the dates of the 

 close season tally with the breeding seasons of the various fishes, by the 

 establishment of a series of fish hatchery plants and other measures, a 

 great deal can be accomplished in the direction of preventing a further 

 decrease, and ultimately of effecting an actual increase, in the product 

 of the fisheries, but it has also been pointed out that so long as an alien 

 corporation remains in practical control of the commercial output of the 

 fisheries, so long will the fish markets of the Province be of secondary 

 importance in comparison with those of greater American cities, and, 

 according to the measure of starvation that must prevail under such con- 

 ditions, so will their growth continue to be stultified. 



Fish companies and individual fishermen, who would be indepen- 

 dent, have little chance of remaining so for any length of time. The 

 trust, through its agents, controls the bulk of the plant existent in the 

 Province which is indispensable for the conducting of the fishery busi- 

 ness. It controls, also, in many instances the shipping facilities and the 

 ordinary channels of trade. For a time the independent fish company 

 or fishermen may succeed in disposing of their catch locally, but in 

 Ontario there is at present but small demand for the coarser varieties of 

 fish, and at certain seasons of the year these comprise the bulk of the 

 fishermen's catch. Then, if they should desire to dispose of their catch 

 outside of their immediate locality, they soon are swept into the toils of 

 the corporation, for unless they are willing to sell in the future all their 

 catch to it, the trust refuses to purchase any of the catch at all. It ap- 

 pears, indeed, that at no time will the corporation or its agents deal 

 with the independent men other than on the terms " all or nothing," so 

 that unless the company or fishermen are willing to lose their profits 

 and the fruits of their labors, or unless they can command suflicient 

 capital to make storage, shipping and market arrangements for them- 

 selves, which in some cases has been attempted but only with indifferent 

 and short-lived success, they must inevitably, sooner or later, bow to the 

 dictates of the corporation, and thus allow themselves to be swallowed 

 up by it. In certain cases definite contracts are drawn up, binding the 

 fishermen to sell only to the agents of the trust, and it seems more than 

 probable that in many cases also the corporation supplies the fishermen 

 with their nets, boats and other appliances, extracting part payment in 

 kind, but holding always a sufficient balance over their heads as to 

 ensure the continuance of their allegiance. 



