38 REPORT OF ONTARIO GAME No. 52 



while the Ontario market was profiting to the extent of one or two of 

 the finer varieties of fish, the great bulk of the other fishes would still 

 be exported to the States. 



By partial prohibition of export, therefore, unsupported by other 

 measures, it would seem that not only would the power of the trust 

 remain unshaken to a great extent, but that also the Ontario market 

 would not receive the requisite impetus, for in dealing with such sources 

 of food supply as the fisheries it is evidently necessary to take into 

 account the requirements of all classes of the community, and to accom- 

 plish this, equal attention would have to be paid to the coarse as to the 

 finer varieties of fish, for the former will in all probability always be 

 the cheaper and, therefore, in greater demand by a considerable section 

 of the population. 



It must also be noted that the prohibition of export of particular 

 varieties only would entail very strict supervision of shipments for 

 export. The methods of packing fish in deep boxes and barrels are such 

 that inspection is by no means easy at any time. It is well known, for 

 instance, that no small numbers of black bass, the export of which 

 sporting fish has already been prohibited, at present find their way to 

 the fish markets of the States from certain localities, concealed in ship- 

 ments of coarser fish. To make the protection of particular varieties of 

 fish effective, in fact as in law, would appear to necessitate, therefore, 

 a more thorough and searching inspection being carried out by a more 

 conscientious and efficient body of officials than under present condi- 

 tions is at all feasible. 



If, however, such alterations were effected in the personnel and 

 methods of the Department concerned as to make effective inspection 

 possible of execution, and at the same time a method could be devised by 

 which the Provincial fish market could be fostered in all classes of fish 

 in spite of a continued export of large quantities of the coarser varieties 

 to the already established markets for them in the States, it would 

 seem that partial prohibition might have some weighty advantages over 

 total prohibition, for in the first place it would not disorganize so 

 abruptly the existing fishery business, and consequently would meet 

 with less opposition, and secondly it would not leave in any doubt the 

 possible undue increase in coarse fish referred to earlier in this section. 



In any case there can be little doubt but that prohibition of export, 

 even if applied only in modified form, would be a powerful factor in 

 remedying the present deplorable condition both of Ontario's fisheries 

 and of her fish market. 



A Provincial Fish Agency. 



The condition under which the fisheries are at present being con- 

 ducted have already been indicated earlier in this report, and attention 

 has been drawn to the fact that under these conditions healthy compe- 



