X SHAD FISHERY COMMISSION 



Your memorialists, therefore, humbly request as follows : — 



That a Commission of inquiry be granted to collect information touching the 

 above mentioned fishery: — • 



1. As to its history. 



2. As to its development. 



3. The period of its best condition. 



4. When it began to decline. 



5. As to the cause of its decline. 



6. Methods of taking and contrivances therefor. 



v. Time when they first appear at different places. 



8. Habits and food of fish. 



9. Spawning grounds and artificial breeding. 



10. Enemies and obstructions in rivers. 



11. Curing and marketing fish. 



12. Suggestions for preservation, restoration and improvement 



and that the hatchery at Windsor be put in operation the present season for hatching 

 shad spawn. And your memorialists will as in duty bound ever pray. 



M. H. GouDGE, M.L.C. E. P. Paul, M.P.P. 



Amos B. Etter, M.L.C. Chas. S. Wilcox, il.P.P. 



Alfred P. Welton, M.L.C. B. H. Dodge, M.P.P. 



C. N. CuMMixGS, ]\r.L.C. C. H. Campbell, M.P.P. 



Henry N. Eobicheau, M.L.C. A. M. Gidxey, M.P.P. 



O. T. Damels, M.P.P. J. A. Bancroft, M.P.P. 



W. D. Hill, M.P.P. B. F. Pe.^rsox, M.P.P. 



Jas. O'Brien, M.P.P. William T. Pipes, IM.P.P. 



Halifax, N.S., April 2, 1908. 



For over twenty years representations have been made to the Department of 

 Marine and Fisheries, Ottawa, on the declining condition of the shad industry, and 

 the fishery inspectors, especially the former Fishery Inspector at St. John, and Inspec- 

 tcrs Hockin and Chapman, have reported fully on many occasions on the necessity 

 for protective steps, but there appeared to have arisen difficulties in the way of 

 action, and no legislation in that direction was enacted. At a conference of Dom- 

 inion Fishery Inspectors held in Ottawa, on April 9, 1891, the state of the shad fishery 

 was discussed and a recommendation agreed upon. (See Appendix Xo. 1). In May, 

 1894, a petition bearing 611 signatures from residents and fishermen along Oopequid 

 Bay shores was received, in which four points were emphasized: — 



1st. The former great value of the shad industry, three to five thousand barrels 

 of shad of a value from thirty thousand to fifty thousand dollars per annum being 

 the yield along thirty-five miles of the Colchester coast line. 



2nd. In later years the fishery had seriously declined, so that in the same terri- 

 tory not more than from two hundred to five hundred barrels per year were taken. 



3rd. The cause of the decline was stated in the petition to be the destruction of 

 spawn shad in Shubenacadie and Stewiacke rivers, this destruction being of com- 

 paratively recent date. 



4th. The petition urged that shad should be protected by a close season similar 

 to that carried out in regard to salmon, so that the taking of shad during the spawn- 

 ing time might be strictly prohibited. 



Later several petitions were received, — one on April 21st, 1902, bearing a large 

 number of signatures from the same localities before mentioned and also including 



