THE DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT. 9 



morants of Gaspe seriously turn their attention to fish of economic 

 importance their possibility of damage could be considerable. 



In the vicinity of Gaspe and various other places on the coast 

 the salmon (Salmo solar) is an economically important fish 

 and furnishes livelihood to a large number of the inhabitants. 



The mouths of the salmon-frequented streams are lined 

 with their full legal quota of nets which supply the fish to the 

 general market, bringing good prices and furnishing business 

 and profit to the fisherman, the middleman, the retailer, and 

 to the common carriers connecting them. The streams them- 

 selves are owned by, or leased to, private individuals and angling 

 clubs, and are, therefore, not open to public fishing. The law 

 allows only fly fishing upon them, the catch, therefore, is limited 

 and cannot be looked upon as an economically important food 

 supply. However, the owners of the streams are necessarily 

 men or clubs of wealth and distribute considerable money in the 

 immediate neighbourhood, besides paying a comparatively high 

 rental to the Provincial Government for the privilege. Club 

 houses are built, canoes and outfits bought, guardians and war- 

 dens salaried throughout the year, and numbers of guides employ- 

 ed intermittently during the season. Food supply for members 

 has also to be provided on a rather elaborate scale, most of which 

 is procured locally, and general service paid for. Added to 

 these expenses, the railway fares and expressage necessary to 

 transport men and their trophies to and from the ground, and 

 the innumerable other ways in which wealth, when on a holiday, 

 distributes money totals far beyond the mere food value of the 

 fish actually taken in the river and forms an important item 

 in the welfare of the community. 



There may be another side to the story, of course. The 

 food supplied to society in general may be a mere bagatelle com- 

 pared with the effort and money spent in obtaining it and may 

 indicate economic waste. However, be this as it may, the 

 fact remains that the angling interests are esteemed of extreme 

 importance to the local communities about the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence and the possibility of cormorants being harmful to their 

 welfare demands careful investigation. 



