1912 AND FISHERIES COMMISSION. 115 



not the demand for fry by anglers, but the steady demand and great 

 price to be obtained for speckled trout on the markets of New York and 

 other great American cities. In this Province, however, the majority 

 of citizens would be unwilling to pay the fancy prices for this fish which 

 prevail in the markets across the border, more especially so as it entails 

 purchasing little more than a name, the liver-fed brook trout being 

 devoid of nearly all the delicacy and flavour which have rendered the 

 wild fish famous as a table dish. The great quantities of fish which 

 have to be raised for market purposes in order to make the enterprise 

 financially successful have resulted in the hatcheries in certain ins- 

 tances being able to dispose of large quantities of eggs or fry at a less 

 cost than it would have taken the State hatcheries to produce them. 

 In spite of this fact, however, botJi the uncertainty of this source of 

 supply in the present and in the future end the constant and steadilj^ 

 increasing demand for brook trout eggs wherewith to restock public 

 or private waters have led the Federal Government of the United 

 States, as well as many of the individual States also, to interest them- 

 selves on an increasing scale in the enterprise of raising trout as a 

 measure of profitable and sound economy. In this Province, where the 

 sale of brook trout is forbidden, and the only market for fish artificially 

 raised would, apparently, in any case be Toronto, and at that a most 

 limited one, it would appear impossible that for many years to come 

 the private commercial brook trout hatchery should be a profitable 

 enterprise, or that eggs or fry could be obtained in sufficient quantities 

 from private Canadian sources to meet the needs of the Province at 

 lower prices than those at which they*could be produced by Provincial 

 hatcheries, while to rely on the private firms of a foreign nation for a 

 future supply would seem far from desirable or wise. It would appear, 

 therefore, that in regard to brook trout where restocking measures have 

 to be instituted as a permanent undertaking, as should undoubtedly 

 be the case in this Province, the Grovernment might well embark on the 

 undertaking, and insure through the institution of special provincial 

 brook trout hatcheries an adequate supply of fi^ or fingerlings being 

 always obtainable. 



One of the main factors, if not the main factor, in a successful 

 brook trout hatchery is an abundant supply of cold, clear 

 water, vsuch as is not to be found in every locality, but in 

 the region of the north shore of Lake Superior conditions in this 

 respect are peculiarly favorable. The speckled trout in these 

 waters, moreover, are of the first quality, and this fact together 

 with the actual and potential value of the whole region, but of the 

 Nipigon district in particular, as a resort for speckled trout anglers, 

 not only most undoubtedly singles it out as the logical site for an exten- 

 sive provincial brook trout hatchery, but renders certain also that the 

 initial outlay and running expenses would be more than counterbal- 

 anced by the benefits to be derived from it. There can be no question, 



