lyTERIil REPORT 17 



ehad on a single tide are not known now: oftener 3 or 6 or 10 or 15 shad may be all 

 that a man gets in a night's fishing. In many localities they are said to have become 

 really extinct. I do not think that it is too late to take steps to restore the shad ; but 

 our present business is to gather all the information we can. The various points into 

 which the honourable the Minister of Mftrine and Fisheries, Ottawa, has instructed us 

 to inquire are set f^'rth in the public notices, and newspaper advertisements seen, no 

 doubt by most of those present. Over twenty public sessions have been already 

 arranged and others will be added to o\ir list if necessary as the Dominion govern- 

 ment requires our investigations to be well and thoroughly done. 



The valuable gaspereau, kiack or alewife and the salmon, are caught in the same 

 Bay of Fundy waters and we can hardly dissociate these fish from our inquiries. The 

 shad is our principal subject but we shall receive evidence upon the other fisheries for 

 salmon and gaspereau. We invite every experienced fisherman to come forward and 

 to tell us honestly and briefly what his knowledge and his conclusions are on the 

 various points included in our programme of investigation. I may add that the Hon. 

 L. P. Brodeur, the Minister of Marine and Fisheries, the Hon. W. S. Fielding, the 

 Hon. Sir Frederick Borden, the Hon. Wm. Pugsley, Hon. Mr. Emmerson and various 

 members of the Dominion and the Provincial Houses have taken si)ecial personal in- 

 terest in the commission and its work, and are following its progress closely. 



I must add one word in regard to my colleague, Mr. Morrison, though I required 

 to say little. He has lived in a famous shad locality for a great part of his life and 

 has often been out in the shad boat and years ago saw great quantities of shad handled. 

 He and I have already visited some fishing grounds — the weirs in certain localities — 

 the Sl^ John harbour traps, and know from actual observation, some facts of vital 

 importance in aiding us in arriving at just and wise conclusions. Mr. Morrison has for 

 some years publicly urged that something should be done by the government which 

 might be effective in improving the state of the shad fishery. I will now ask Mr. Mor- 

 rison to add a few words before we proceed to take evidence. 



Mr. Morrison said that he had long felt the necessity and importance of a thor- 

 ough investigation of the shad fisheries of the Bay of Fundy, and he thought that the 

 government never took a more commendable step than in arranging to give the fisher- 

 men the opportunity of placing their knowledge and experience before a commission 

 authorized as his learned colleague had said to gather information so as to form a 

 basis for legislation that may bring back the shad to something like its former abund- 

 ance. As a matter of fact they were face to face with a condition. On the one 

 hand, there were the bay shad, the summer shad, which were fat and in the 

 best condition, then there were the spring shad, which were large and fuU of spawn, 

 and practically never taken down the bay at all. There was an opinion that they 

 were not the same species or variety; but certainly the summer shad had declined to 

 very serious extent, and everybody felt it. The shad were a staple food and they 

 were the cause of a fishery which brought much money to the men resident all along 

 the bay shores. The decline of the shad was a very serious matter to all concerned, 

 and he hoped that great benefit would result from the commission's investigations. 

 Personally he had not anticipated being connected with such a commission as this 

 which the government at Ottawa had appointed. He had taken an active part in urg- 

 ing on the step now taken, because he thought it would lead to a great public benefit, 

 either by the enactment of effective laws or by the erection of hatcheries for propagat- 

 ing the shad artificially, as had been so successfully done in the United States, or by 

 some other measures. A conference in April last held in the Legislative Council 

 Chamber, Halifax, which was attended by Professor Prince, and a very representative 

 gathering met, including many members of the Council, and members of the Provin- 

 cial House, and others, and the shad question was exhaustively discussed, and it was 

 found that what the government wanted was precisely the kind of information which 

 exi)erienced fishermen could give, which information the sittings of the commission 

 would, it was hoped, elicit. 



