ELEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT 



OF THE 



Department of Game and Fisheries of 



Ontario 



To the Honourable F. G. Macdiarmid^ 



Minister of Public Works and Highways. 



Sir, — I have the honour to submit for your consideration the Eleventh Annual 

 Keport of the Department of Game and Fisheries, which is for the fiscal year ended 

 October 31st, 1917. 



Laws and Regulations. 



It is with pleasure I am able to report that, with few exceptions, the laws and 

 regulations have been adhered to. The amendments made to the Game and 

 Fisheries Act during the session of the Legislature in 1916, providing for trappers' 

 licenses and also making provision for the taking of beaver and otter under certain 

 regulations prescribed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, has proved very ac- 

 ceptable to the trappers and, the public in general, and incidentally had the effect of 

 materially increasing the revenue of the Department. The regulation levying a 

 royalty of fifty cents on each beaver skin taken in the Province, and one dollar on 

 each otter skin, brought into the Provincial Treasury the sum of $21,781.00, while 

 the fees derived from trappers' licenses and farmers' permits brought in a total of 

 $23,040.00. The Statutes provide that farmers and farmers' sons trapping upon 

 their own land shall be exempt from having to take out a trapper's license, but the 

 regulation re the taking of beaver and otter upon their own lands require them to 

 take out what is known as a farmer's permit, the fee being placed at the nominal 

 sum of one dollar. This enables each farmer or farmer's son to take ten beaver in 

 an open season. Realizing that these were new regulations and also that it was 

 the first open season in Ontario for twenty years, the Department gave them, 

 through their officers and the press, the widest possible publicity, with the result 

 that these regulations were brought into force with little confusion and are now 

 being well observed and working smoothly. 



The Treaty between Great Britain and the United States re the protection of 

 insectivorous and other birds referred to in my last report has been signed, and it 

 will require legislation at the next session of the Legislature amending our Act to 

 make it conform with the terms of the Treaty. 



To create as well as stimulate interest in the better protection of our beautiful 

 songsters and other birds, the Department has, at the request of the owner, Miss 

 E. L. Marsh, set aside the "Peasemarsh Farm," in the County of Grey, as a 

 sanctuary. We trust the example set by Miss Marsh may be followed by others 

 interested in the preservation and protection of bird life in this Province, and that 



[5} 

 2 G. 



