191S AND FISHERIES COMMISSION. 49 



Province, Mr. J. R. Cartwright. If this be so, the Province evidently 

 has it within its power to right the present unsatisfactory state of 

 affairs, for it cannot be claimed that the Dominion dates are not suit- 

 able to some, at least, of the fishing areas of the great lakes, or that 

 in a single instance they err either in commencing too soon or in being 

 unduly prolonged. 



A study of local conditions would appear then to be all that is neces- 

 sary to enable the Province to institute close seasons which would tally 

 with the actual dates of spawning in each individual locality. 



It is further evident that by endorsing the licenses to cover the 

 earliest possible dates at which spawning might commence, it would be 

 possible for the Provincial Government to place the actual date on which 

 fishing should cease within the discretion of its local fishery overseers, 

 subject, of course, to the dates of the general Dominion close season. 

 A system such as this would seem to afford the most logical solution to 

 the problem of dealing adequately with the climatic influence on the com- 

 mencement of the spawning run, but obviously, to be effective, it would 

 be necessary for the Government fishery overseers to be considerably 

 more conscientious and more thoroughly acquainted with fishing condi- 

 tions than is usual to-day, for even a few days delay would mean con- 

 siderable additional profit to the fishermen at the expense of the quan- 

 tity of spawn which should have been deposited. 



If the Provincial Government, as it would appear, has it within 

 its authority to thus increase the close seasons enacted by the Dominion 

 Government, it must evidently also have the power to stop fishing 

 altogether by the refusal to issue licenses ; in fact, of producing a longer 

 or shorter close period and similarly of closing to commercial fishing 

 any areas it may deem advisable. 



A Provincial Fisheries Policy. 



In the Interim Report of this Commission and in the preceding 

 pages of this report an outline has been given of the general condition 

 of the great lake fisheries and of the fish trade in the Province of 

 Ontario, and sufficient has been said to show that stringent measures are 

 essential to eradicate the glaring evils at the root of the present situa- 

 tion. The past history of the fisheries has furnished ample proof of the 

 inefflcacy of attempting to bolster up an avowedly unsound system 

 with the flaccid pills of mildly remedial legislation, so that if it is desired 

 to save, conserve and develop the fisheries to the maximum of their 

 worth, and to obtain the greatest possible value from them for the bene- 

 fit of the citizens of Ontario, a broad general policy in regard to them 

 must be evolved and carried through systematically, despite the protests 

 of the monopolies and their myrmidons, and despite the denunciations 

 and vaporings of those more interested in retaining in their hands petty 

 political patronage than in advancing the general welfare of the com- 

 munity. The rapidly increasing population of the Province renders the 



