DO KEPORT OF ONTARIO GAME No. 52 



be no doubt but that it would be to the advantage of the Province were 

 all such waters to be similarly treated. 



In previous sections of this report dealing with the commercial fish- 

 eries various recommendations have been made which liave aliso a direct 

 bearing on the sporting fisheries, notably as to the prevention of com- 

 mercial fishing in rivers and lakes with less than a clear water area of 

 ten miles square, the limitation of domestic licenses, the prohibition of 

 spearing or netting in the winter, and the removal of predaceous or 

 coarse fishes from those areas in Avhich commercial fishing is deemed in- 

 advisable by Government officials, or at least under direct governmental 

 supervision, so that it is needless again to discu'ss these matters under 

 the present heading. There is, however, one other question closely 

 allied with these problems which remains to be examined, namely, the 

 fishing for lake trout and pickerel in those inland waters for which com- 

 mercial licenses are, or will be in the future, issued. Both varieties of 

 fish are, as a rule, to be found in such waters and naturalh^ constitute 

 no inconsiderable portion of the catch of the commercial net fishermen, 

 while, in addition, the commercial value of their flesh is high, Oonse- 

 quentlj^, were the net fishermen to be debarred from fishing for or selling 

 these fish it would appear that it might materially affect the possibility 

 of their making a success of the enterprise. On the other hand, as 

 already pointed out, the great lake commercial fisheries should be amply 

 sufficient to supply the general market of the Province and the function 

 of these lesser water areas, stocked with commercial fishes and of suf- 

 ficient size to render commercial fishing permissible, is undoubtedly to 

 fill the needs of a purely local market, and should be confined to this 

 purpose. If this latter fact should come to be recognized and adopted 

 as a general policy, as recommenided in this report, it is evident that 

 only a local resident would engage in the business of commercially fish- 

 ing such waters, or, in fact, that the business would, as a rule, be under- 

 taken by some individual as a means of augmenting an income derived 

 from other sources. The hardship to the fisihermen, therefore, in pro- 

 hibiting the commercial fishing of lake trout or pickerel in confined 

 water areas Avould be very appreciably diminished under such conditions. 

 The value of both these fishes is undoubtedly great as an attraction to 

 tourists, and in addition to this, if the fishing for either or both varieties 

 was good, even though there might be a possible local market sufficient 

 to consume all that might reasonably be caught under a commercial 

 license, the residents of the surrounding district could be counted on to 

 take full advantage of the excellence of the fishing in their vicinity, and 

 thus the distribution of the fish as food through the neighborliood would 

 be almost equally well effected as could be accomplished through com- 

 mercial trading. It would appear, then, that in the lasser inland waters 

 throughout the Province it would, on the whole, be adv.^^tageous to pre- 

 vent, as far as possible, the commercial exploitation of either the lake 

 trout or pickerel. The supervision of fish shipments, which are the pro- 



