REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS xi 



Hants county, reiterating the points stated in the former petition and suggesting- 

 that a close season for shad should be established from August 15th in one year to 

 June 15th in the year following. The petitioners urge that immediate action should 

 be taken and that the restrictions should apply to the Bay of Fundy and tributary 

 rivers. 



These petitions indicate the general feeling along the shores in question, as the 

 condition of this important industry for the last twenty or twenty-five years has been 

 a matter of great concern to the whole population resident along the coast of the 

 Day of Fundy, and the appointment of the present Commission, with full authority 

 to investigate the shad fishery in all its aspects, has met with the warm approval of 

 '.he public generally. 



Few persons not resident in the Lower Provinces can realize the importance of 

 the shad industry, and that the possibility of its total decay and disappearance is a 

 matter of such deep and widespread concern. Previous to the appointment of the 

 present Commission no data other than those contained in the usual official reports 

 have been available, though, as already pointed out, certain fishery officers liave from 

 time to time urged the necessity of some effective measures. 



The necessity of a thorough investigation and the collection of information, 

 especially from old shad fishermen, most of whom are rapidly passing away, had 

 been universally recognized in Xova Scotia and New Brunswick, and the wisdom 

 and propriety of the action of the Honourable the Minister of Marine and Fisheries 

 in authorizing a Dominion Commission to hold sittings to hear reports from inter- 

 ested parties and to inquire generally into the fisheries in question have been hailed 

 with satisfaction all along the Bay of Fundy and adjacent Atlantic shores. As a 

 leading resident of Truro. N.S., assured the Commissioners in his evidence, " I 

 don't think that the Commission has started any too soon," while a prominent witness 

 at Bass river, N.S., declared, " I do not think any one could call this Shad Com- 

 mission a failure. I felt it was the very thing required. The decline of the shad 

 vas serious in many ways." At St. Martins. IST.B., an important witness, Mr. A. F. 

 Bentley, gave striking testimony on the same lines. He said: — 



I fished shad long ago in Nova Scotia at Five Islands. I consider shad one of the 

 most valuable of all our fishes. Fifteen or twenty years ago it was a remunerative 

 fishery for the fishermen and valuable to the public. Thousands of barrels were caught. 

 It was the thing which brought money to the people, and some fishermen I know 

 realized as much as $2,000 a season from shad fishing. I moved down here, but I 

 hear that shad are now very scarce, bring $S to $11 per half-barrel, but some seasons 

 as high as $12 a half-barrel. I consider shad to be one of the best fish. Fresh there 

 is no better, and salted it is equal to mackerel. As a boy I remember that 4 cts. was 

 the price of a shad and later 25 cents. If the government can do anything to increase 

 the shad they would be doing one of the best things that could be done for the people. 



On similar lines Inspector H. E. Harrison, in his official report, 1908-9, p. 118 

 said:— 



Regarding these splendid fish I have to make the same report as last season. It 

 is useless to speculate as to the cause of the deterioration in this fishery. Possibly 

 regulations allowing a very limited fishing season for shad, might in time bring it 

 back to something like its former proportions, otherwise it seems to be going the 

 way the great sturgeon fishery of the St. John river did some years ago. I sincerely 



