1912 AND FISHERIES COMMISSION. 73 



fish be steadih' destroyed, but the small and immature of other varieties 

 might be taken in quantities and the mature fish in considerable num- 

 bers at seasons of spawning when they run into the shoals, thus tending 

 to the rapid depletion of the waters, for the sake of a comparatively 

 trifling gain to one or two individuals, or owing to the negligence or 

 wilful disregard of the laws on the part of certain licensees. 



The cases where there is an actual need for fish food to maintain 

 existence are, fortunately, comparatively rare, and though, as before 

 noted, there are seasons of the year when it may be impossible for the 

 average farmer or his family to devote suflflcient time to catch enough 

 fish to live upon, such seasons are not, as a rule, prolonged, and there 

 is, therefore, in the average case no apparent reason why any dispensa- 

 tion whatever should be granted the farmer over the average citizen, but 

 most especially so where even the limited amount of net accorded by the 

 domestic licenses can result in serious injury to the sporting fish. It 

 must be remembered, also, that even in the case of those fish, such as the 

 herring, which can only be caught by means of nets, such fish constitute 

 no small portion of the food of such sporting fish as, for instance, the 

 lake trout, and consequently the sporting fisheries may easily be injured 

 by ruthlessly destroying them. It would seem, therefore, that the great- 

 est care should be taken in the issuance of domestic licenses; that as far 

 as possible they should be restricted to localities where the necessity for 

 them as a means of procuring sustenance actually exists, and that it 

 would be advisable not to issue such licenses at all for small bodies of 

 water in which sporting fish exist. 



Where there is a demand for fish inland from waters for which 

 domestic licenses are issued, and the waters themselves are of sufficient 

 size to warrant commercial fishing, plainly this demand should be satis- 

 fied by a modified commercial license, issued for local needs only, but 

 where the waters are too restricted to allow of commercial fisliing by the 

 importation of fish from other sources, but under no circumstance should 

 the domestic license, even in a small way, be allowed to usurp the func- 

 tions of a commercial license. To the fact that in some districts it has 

 done so may be largely attributed the rapid decrease of all classes of fish 

 in these waters, so that it is evident that measures should at once be 

 taken, where this has occurred, to prevent any further damage being 

 wrought. The local overseers are, of course, the officials in whose hands 

 the enforcement of the laws in this regard rest, and the necessity for 

 lo3'al, active and energetic officers, unbiassed by considerations of per- 

 "sonal friendship or party politics, is all too obvious. Eacli net should 

 be visited by them as frequently as possible, and lifted in order to ascer- 

 tain the nature and extent of the catch, and whether the licensee is him- 

 self lifting the net sufficiently often to ensure there being no waste, and 

 under no circumstances should the nets ever be allowed to be placed on 

 or near the spawning beds during the periods of spawning of any class 

 of fish fit for food. Reports, also, of illegalities in regard to trading 



