132 EEPORT OF ONTARIO GAME No. 52 



anglers who, if they desire minnows, will practically be forced to break 

 the law. It would appear, therefore, expedient to make some effort to 

 ascertain what the extent of the danger to the young of valuable sport- 

 ing and other fishes may be from the use of limited lengths of seine net 

 for the purpose of catching bait; whether, in fact, that danger which 

 wa's mainly responsible for the introduction of the present law is not 

 more ima,ginary than real. To establish this beyond dispute it would 

 be necessary to make extensive investigations throughout the Province. 

 The fact that the majority of licensees maintain minnow pails would 

 afford a means of determining the extent of the damage now being 

 wrought, if the pails were to be examined by an expert icthyologist, and, 

 as the number of licen'ses is comparatively limited, it would plainly 

 be possible for an expert not only to inspect a high proportion of them 

 in the course of a few months, but at the same time to attend the actual 

 seining operations and form a reliable opinion on the number of young 

 and valuable fishes that are on the average liable to be thus secured. 

 The Province is fortunate in numbering among its citizens an icthyolo- 

 gist of the highest rank, Mr. C. W. Nash, and it would seem that the 

 Importance of the issue at stake would more than warrant the expense 

 that would be incurred by securing his services to make a report on this 

 question, which only an expert could ever properly decide. Should 

 such an investigation be carried out and the danger to the immature 

 of valuable species was found to be but slight, it is beyond dispute that 

 it would be most advisable to amend the present law to the extent of 

 permitting the individual angler the use of some feet of minnow seine 

 net for the purpose of securing his own bait, and under such circum- 

 stances it would probably be found necessary to reduce the cost of the 

 minnow seine license, used for commercial purposes, very considerably. 



The Non-Resident Angler^s License. 



The non-resident angler's tax has proved of value from tAvo points 

 of view, firstly in producing a considerable direct revenue to the 

 Province, and secondly as affording some index of the numbers of visi- 

 tors to the Province from without who engage in angling and who may, 

 therefore, be deemed to have been influenced in their decision to visit 

 the Province on account of the sport to be obtained there. There would 

 seem to be almost unanimity of opinion among the angler tourists that 

 the tax is both just and reasonable provided only that the money thus 

 collected is devoted to the purpose of conserving the sporting fisheries 

 and thus providing them with good sport. The collection of the tax, 

 however, still leaves much to be desired, for as noted in the Interim 

 Report of this Commission there is no question that a number of non- 

 residents do not at present pay, either because they are not approached 

 by the official empowered to collect it, or because they remain in ignor- 

 ance of the existence of the tax. The great majority of the visiting 



