8G REPORT OF ONTARIO GAME Xo. 52 



THE PROPOSED INTERNATIONAL FISHERY REGULATIONS. 



The proposed code of international regulations for the protection 

 and preservation of the food fishes in international boundary waters of 

 the United States and Canada deals comprehensively with many ques- 

 tions in connection with the commercial fisheries of the Province, and 

 the presumption that the day cannot now be far diistant when this code 

 will be promulgated has deterred your Commissioner from entering 

 upon a discussion of them in this report. There has, however, already 

 been a considerable delay in the promulgation of these regulations and 

 it cannot be denied that the same causes which have operated to this end 

 in the past may conceivably continue to do so in the immediate future. 

 There is an urgent necessity at the present time for a revision of the 

 regulations in regard to such matters as the construction and location 

 of pound nets, the mesh of nets, the amount of netting, the prohibition 

 of netting in certain localities, the closing of the sturgeon fisheries in 

 the great lakes and the prohibition in these waters of netting under the 

 ice and the use of naked hooks and spears, flambeaux, torches and other 

 artificial lights, besides various other matters disposed of by the pro- 

 posed regulations. It would, therefore, seem advisable to take steps to 

 ascertain from the Dominion Government the probability of the near 

 promulgation of the international regulations and in the event of no 

 satisfactory assurances being received that promulgation will shortly 

 take place, to attempt to introduce or to have introduced measui'es 

 affecting these questions on the lines indicated in the proposed inter- 

 national regulations. By so doing the situation would in no way be 

 complicated, but on the contrary prepared and simplified for the intro- 

 duction at a subsequent date of international regulations which have 

 seemed wisest to the joint Commissioners of the United States and 

 Canada. 



It is proverbially unwise to attempt to cross bridges before they are 

 reached, and in consequence criticism of the proposed international 

 regulations as a whole is not attempted in this report, but attention is 

 called to the follcnving point as it would appear to open the way to 

 various misunderstandings and difficulties. 



At the commencement of the regulations are set forth various defi- 

 nitions of terms subsequently made use of in the code, and therein the 

 expression " Coarse Fish " is defined as " suckers and other fish of little 

 value as food for man." In the body of the regulations as affecting the 

 fisheries of the great lakes are various clauses proliibiting the placing of 

 nets in certain localities such as St. Mary's River, St. Clair River, 

 Detroit River, Niagara River, St. Lawrence River, where such constitute 

 the international boundary, or in Lake Erie within one-half mile of the 

 international boundary, and prohibiting also the use of trap nets, but 

 a succeeding clause dealing with the fishing for coarse fish would appear 

 to nullify much of the value of these wise provisions. The clause in 

 question reads as follows: — 



