46 REPORT OF ONTARIO GAME No. 52 



wliether it is expedient to spend the money necessary for the acquisition 

 of an ample, suitable and efficient equipment, in order to retain control 

 of the enforcement of the laws over what are practically its own fisheries, 

 or whether to let this control pass altogether into the hands of the 

 Dominion Government. 



Duplication of the fisheries protective service would appear to be 

 unnecessary and wasteful, and yet, seeing that the Dominion Govern- 

 ment has entered upon an engagement with the Government of the 

 United States to enforce certain regulations over the fisheries, it would 

 seem unavoidable that it should take the matter into its own hands in 

 the event of the Provincial Government being unAvilling to adopt a pro- 

 gressive and suitable policy, both in regard to the selection of a staff and 

 the provision of a proper equipment. Even should the Dominion Gov- 

 ernment decide to increase its staff and equipment, after promulgation 

 of the international regulations, there can be little doubt but that the 

 announcement by the Provincial Government, of its intention materially 

 to improve its fishery protective service on modern lines, would be taken 

 into consideration in determining the extent of such increase. In any 

 case it is apparent that the more efficient and adequate the Provincial 

 service, the more will the actual control of the fisheries continue to be 

 exercised by the Province. 



THE ESTABLISHMENT OF FISH HATCHERIES AND FISH 



AGENCIES. 



In the United States practically all the individual States now main- 

 tain very extensive hatchery plants of their own, in addition to those 

 supported by the Federal Government. It is plainly a purely domestic 

 matter for each Province or State to decide for itself, and there can be 

 no question as to the power of the Government of Ontario to do pre- 

 cisely as it chooses in this regard. 



Similarly, the establishment of a Provincial Fish Agency would be 

 a purely domestic arrangement, and as such within the absolute Jurisdic- 

 tion of the Provincial Government. 



The Prohibition of Export of Fish. 



The decision of the Privy Council in regard to the division of control 

 in the matter of the great lake fisheries was a direct interpretation of the 

 provisions of the British North America Act, and it was definitely estab- 

 lished by this decision that the product of the great lake fisheries Avas 

 the property of the Province, irrespective of whether or not the Domin- 

 ion Government should see fit to levy a tax on the fisheries. The licenses 

 issued to the commercial net fishermen by the Province are endorsed with 

 the dates and areas for which the licenses are valid and other matters 



