1912 AND FISHERIES COMMISSION. 87 



" Nets for Coarse Fish. 



" Nothing in these regulations shall prohibit the use of the seines, 

 fyke nets or other nets exclusively for the capture of the carp, eels and 

 coarse fish. When fyke nets are used for such a purpose the wings and 

 leaders shall not extend more than 10 feet from the entrance." 



Consequently, in all the waters of the great lakes there would 

 appear to be no obstruction to the use of the trap or any other class of 

 net, so be that the intention was avowed of catching only coarse fish. 

 Some such clause had plainly to be inserted to meet the eventuality of 

 either country finding it necessary to remove quantities of certain 

 classes o(f fish, such as the carp or pike, but the omission of the stipula- 

 tion that sueh nets should be employed by government officials only, 

 obviously throws this privilege open to the public. Unf ortunatelj^, the very 

 waters in which fishing, except for coarse fish, is prohibited distinctly 

 by the regulations, as well as much of the shallower water throughout 

 the great lake system, in addition to supporting such varieties of fish as 

 the pike, perch, bullhead, carp, mullet and sucker, contain also in many 

 instances such valuable sporting fishes as the black bass, the pickerel 

 and mascalonge, and, as has already been shown in previous sections of 

 this report, w^here netting occurs in such waters, but especially trap, 

 hoop, or pound netting, it has up to the present at least been found 

 impossible to check the rapid decrease, in many cases, indeed, the total 

 extinction, of these sporting varieties of fish. 



The definition of coarse fish as above quoted may, of course, not be 

 intended to include the catfish, mullet, perch, or pike, as it would plainly 

 be a valid contention that sueh fish have an appreciable value as food for 

 man, both from the point of view of physical and material economy, but on 

 the other hand, those intei-ested in securing such licenses would have 

 apparently an almost equally powerful argument in comparing either 

 the food or economic value of these fishes to that of the whitefish, the 

 herring, the lake trout, or the pickerel. That sportsmen in many locali- 

 ties would most assuredly protest against any such netting being 

 allowed, is certain, and seeing that the definition of coarse fish, as enun- 

 ciated in the proposed international regulations, is so vague, the whole 

 matter might easily give rise to intricate and prolonged legal proceed- 

 ings to determine its exact interpretation according to law. The issu- 

 ance of the licenses, however, would of course rest with the Province, so 

 that, although under the provisions and definitions of the proposed inter- 

 national regulations, should these come into force, there would appear 

 to be the possibility of considerable divergence of opinion and friction, 

 the means of avoiding it would still remain in the hands of those in 

 charge of the administration of the Provineial fisheries. 



How far in such large water areas as those of the great lakes, or in 

 the narrow channels of the international rivers, it is to the benefit of 

 the commercial and sporting fisheries to remove such fish as the pike, 



