REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS sui 



many resident people for a part of the year; it was a remunerative occupation, and 

 it furnished a cheap and greatly esteemed food to the people. 



There should he a law for the shad like that for the salmon as it is worth ten 

 times more than the salmon. 



Finally, one witness of over sixty years' experience in connection with the shad 

 fishery in Minudie bay, said that : — 



The shad fishery was an important industry, and I think that it would be a good 

 thing to have it restored. 



In connection with this universal opinion along the Ba.v of Fundy shores that 

 the shad fishery ranked as the leading industry in these waters, a detailed letter 

 written by Mr. Amos Seaman, of Minudie, on September 11th, 1850, to Dr. M. H. 

 Perley, is of very great value and interest. The letter is of exceptional historical 

 importance and furnishes most interesting information as to the extent of the shad 

 lishery from 1835 onwards, the methods of taking the fish adopted at that time, the 

 mode of curing, the markets, and the prices, &c. 



The letter is as follows (we quote from Dr. Perley's work, pp. 152-3) : — 



MisuDiE, September 11, 1850. 



Sm, — In answer to your circular of August 12, relative to the fisheries at the head 

 of the Bay of Fundy, I beg leave to say, that T will furnish such information as is in 

 my power, relative to the shad fishery, which is the only kind successfully followed, 

 in the bays and rivers around here. 



It is only about fifteen years since any attention was paid to this business. At 

 first, standing weirs were employed ; hut owing to the circumstances of large quantities 

 of inferior and small fish being caught, the raising of the flats, and other undefinable 

 causes, this mode has for some years been discontinued. The only methods now 

 practised are by set-nets and drifting; by the latter, far the largest quantities are 

 taken : sometimes may he seen in Dorchester bay, and around the shores of Minudie, 

 upwards of two hundred boats out at one time. The boats leave the place of rendez- 

 vous with the ebb tide, drift down to the bay until they meet the flood, and return 

 with it to the place from when they started. With favourable tides each boat will 

 secure from 100 to 150 shad, with SO to 100 fathoms of net. The fishing season com- 

 mences in Jime and terminates in September. 



When we consider the great number of nets that are set, almost every resident 

 on the shores having one, and some four or more — besides others who come from miles 

 inland to embark in the business — as well as the great number of boats constantly out 

 drifting, it is not perhaps too much to say, that from five to six thousand barrels 

 are caught and cured every season. When properly put up, in barrels of 200 pounds 

 weight, with care in curing and packing — the fish being split down the belly, the back 

 bone taken out, and the tail cut off, which is the method preferred by the American 

 merchant, and now followed by many of our fishermen — these shad will command 

 from nine to eleven dollars per barrel, in the American market ; leaving from six 

 dollars and a half to nine dollars and a half to the exporter, after duties and charges 

 are deducted. 



It is but a very few years since any shad were prepared for shipment, the people 

 who followed this fishery being content with securing sufiicient for their own wants, 

 and perhaps a barrel or two for their neighbours. But the fame of our shad "went 

 abroad, and some American merchants were induced to try them in their market : 

 they were highly prized and sought after. From that time, asportations were yearly 

 made, and have gone on steadily increasing. At the present time, there is a great 

 demand for shad caught at the head of this bay. as being of superior qiiality — much 

 fatter and of more delicious flavour than any found on the American shores, or in 

 the markets of the United States. 



