1912 GAME AND FISHEKIES. 



Avith some success in so doing. 1 have been told that we are not consistent in pre- 

 venting farmers and otliers taking game fish from the spawning grounds for their 

 own use, and allowing the commercial fishermen, under similar conditions, to take 

 whitefish off their spawning grounds with impunity, for the purpose of supplying 

 the United States market. 



There is urgent necessity, if the fisheries of the Province are to be perpetuated, 

 for the removal at once and for all time of all interference during the close sea- 

 sons with nature's perfect plan of reproduction, from whatever source it emanates. 

 Close seasons should be applicable to the whole Province, and no conditions or 

 exigency should be an excuse for encroaching on the inadequate close seasons pro- 

 vided for by present regulations. If artificial propagation has been the success 

 claimed, why are those States where it has been in use for many years, and close 

 seasons ignored, compelled to procure spawn from our waters, not procurable in 

 their own waters in which such fabulous numbers of fry are alleged to have been 

 deposited annually for the last twenty or thirty j^ears? Hatcheries having failed 

 to keep up the required supply, it seems to me that it would be in accordance with 

 common sense for those responsible for the failure to again revert to nature's per- 

 fect plan by establishing and compelling strict observance of close seasons. I have 

 no objection to hatcheries as an adjunct to nature, but am strongly opposed to 

 them being used as an excuse for superseding nature and abolishing close seasons. 

 Even from a business basis, is it wise to incur the expense of building and operating 

 hatcheries instead of allowing the fish to attend to the matter of reproduction more 

 effectively, and certainly less costly. I realize that there has been much guess work 

 as to the relative proportion of fry produced by the two systems. Advocates of 

 hatcheries have made the absurd statements that ninety-five per cent, of the eggs 

 taken from the fish to the hatcheries produce fry, and that only five per cent, of 

 those deposited by the fish in the most favorable and suitable spawning grounds 

 and waters do so. While the former statement may be correct, the latter is too 

 absurd even to be considered. I have been paying considerable attention to this 

 restocking from the hatcheries for many years. I have seen the fry dumped into 

 foul, putrid water at outlet of sewers year after year, miles away from pure water 

 and the spawning grounds or beds of the fish working out nature's plan. I have 

 known of large shipments of fry placed in shallow waters near the shores of our 

 la7"ge lakes and in a few hours washed ashore all dead. Similar causes may be 

 tlie result of the unsatisfactory condition of the fisheries in polluted waters in the 

 vicinity of the large cities on the American side of our large lakes. 



Under the above conditions, we may conclude that a very small percentage 

 from the hatcheries becomes mature fish. My urgent plea for close seasons to assist 

 us in perpetuating the fisheries of the Province is strengthened by the knowledge 

 that the most expert authority on the continent — Professor Prince — is a strong 

 advocate for the observance and strict enforcement of close seasons. The time is 

 not far distant when it will be necessary to impose a size limit on herring and blue 

 pickerel. A large percentage of small illegal whitefish is taken in small meshed 

 herring nets. It is my intention, as far as possible, to have during the winter 

 months a systematic investigation made of a large number of our inland lakes 

 in the northern part of the Province to enable the Department to decide on the 

 advisability of opening them for domestic licenses. 



Ee-Stocktng. 

 This was the first year since the establishment of the bass ponds at Mount 

 Pleasant, and they have proved to be most successful. The work of propagating 



