1912 AND FISHERIES COMMISSION. 59 



only condition under which licenses for commercial fishing might pos- 

 sibly be issued in such cases with advantage would be where a local mar- 

 ket was sufficiently great to take the total catch of the number of licenses 

 issued. In such instances the waters would be but fulfilling their proper 

 functions, but the licenses issued for the purpose of supplying this local 

 demand should be endorsed to that effect, and the inspection should be 

 sufficiently potent to ensure this provision being enforced. 



As with the great lake fisheries, so it would seem to be the case with 

 the fisheries of the minor lakes, namely, that the value of the licenses to 

 the licensees must vary considerably in the different bodies of water. 

 Consequently it would appear that the system of licensing should not 

 be as at present a fixed sum applicable equally to any lake or part of a 

 lake, but should be an indeterminate sum to be fixed on the basis of the 

 previous or last year's catch, and adjustable subsequently on the results 

 of the returns of their catch sent in by the licensees; in fact, that the 

 system of licensing should be similar to that suggested for the great 

 lakes. It is also to be noted that the risks and difficulties attendant on 

 commercial fishing are, as a rule, very much lightened in the case of 

 smaller bodies of water, and that, consequently, a greater catch can be 

 secured for a considerably less effort than in the deep waters of the great 

 lakes. It would appear, therefore, reasonable to suppose that in many 

 instances there should arise competition for the privilege of fishing these 

 easy and profitable waters, and, consequently, that were the licenses put 

 up to public tender, a considerable profit would accrue to the public. 

 In regard to tliese waters, however, it must be confessed that, especially 

 in the less settled districts, it is more advantageous to the Province to 

 have the profits accruing from the commercial fishing of these waters go 

 into the pockets of some needy local settler or resident than merely swell 

 the banking account of some individual or company engaged in other 

 matters, who undertake the enterprise purely as a speculation, have no in- 

 terest in the matter other than the quick returns to be derived therefrom, 

 and who are neither acquainted with the process of commercial fishing 

 or with the areas over which they are allowed to fish by virtue of the 

 license they have obtained. In all cases in tliis class of water trafficing 

 in licenses should be most rigidly suppressed and the applicant or ten- 

 derer for a license should be required explicitly to state whether or not 

 he purposes himself to undertake the actual fishing, and whether or not 

 he is a local resident. 



The same objections noted in regard to the introduction of this 

 system to the great lake fisheries undoubtedly exist, although in a some- 

 what modified form. Tlie comparative ease, for instance, with which 

 fishing can be conducted largely discounts the necessity for the develop- 

 ment of a distinct class of fishermen for these waters, and in the majority 

 of cases tlie equipment to carry on fishing operations would neither be 

 large nor expensive. The fact, also, that it might be necessary to close 

 down the fisheries in the event of a material diminution in catch being 



