20 INTERIM REPORT 



and Xova Scotia and in Cape Breton. They had eighteen stations, and handled all 

 sea fish and salmon. They had a steam trawler operating. There have been prac- 

 tically no shad in my day, and my evidence will be on the salmon mainly. The ale- 

 wives in our rivers are earliest, and are followed by the ascending salmon. In 

 Lequille brook alewives some years ago went ten miles np above tidewater, some miles 

 indeed above where the salmon go, as the latter reach the Horseshoe, as it is called, five 

 miles up, and spawn there. In the Annapolis and Bear rivers and Eoundhill brook, 

 &c., the conditions are similar. In Bear river the alewives ai-e said to ascend a fall 12 

 feet high in a depth of water not more than 3 or 4 inches. Salmon were formerly 

 very abundant, and 60 years ago they are said to have crowded up under the town 

 bridge, Annapolis, up Carr's creek. All our local streams are similar in this, that 

 there are still waters or lakes with sandy bottom only a few miles up, and the salmon 

 have only a short run to get to spawning grounds. The Annapolis river salmon used to 

 go above the still waters, but they are very early, and ascend in early March or April. 

 They weigh from eight to twelve pounds. Eoundhill brook has more salmon than 

 any other local river. The mills are all cleared away and salmon can now get up. 

 On Allen's brook there is a fishway at the electric light dam and the fish use it. 

 Above are three or four dams, but all are open. Lequille river suffers from illegal 

 fishing, as the resident Indians scoop salmon every day, as they have done for year.s. 

 They scoop with nets close to the dam and a salmon rarely gets past. Scoop nets might 

 be confined to two days per week, and it should be concurrent with Eoundhill and 

 Allen's brooks. There are eight or ten Indian families, including yome from Bear 

 river and Livei-pool road, four miles from the river, and these people sell their fish 

 in the market and get as much as 50c. per pound for it They are very early fish, 

 the first salmon being sold about the 4th to the 6th of April. Alewives are gone, as 

 the dam on the Lequille stopped them, but 100 barrels used to be got, and the banks 

 of the river were lined with people using scoop nets for alewives. On the Annapolis 

 river herring nets are used as far up as Paradise, but between there and Bridgetown 

 there is still water, as the tide meets there and the nets form a barrier. Below 

 salmon can get past the nets. Tidal fishing should end at Bridgetown; it should be 

 defined as the head of tidal .waters. While the men set a salmon net, they also iise 

 a shad net mesh for salmon. Unless something is done to remove the net barrier 

 the salmon will disappear. The fishery officer is told by the men that it is tidal water 

 and he allows them to go on. 



J. IIarrisox, of Nictaux, said it was desirable to take out all nets from the 

 Nictaux river for three years, and stop aU dipping, some people added; but if the 

 nets were shortened and seasons enforced and the proper distance between nets car- 

 ried out, the shad would be restored. The sahnon run early, and about May 1 fly- 

 fishing is best, and on to the 24th of May. A second run follows the ilay run in 

 June. Sawdust is a trouble, as spawning trout may be seen on banks of sawdust, 

 bubbling up poisonous gases. If the river were protected hundreds of visitors would 

 come for salmon fishing. Netting should be confiued to two days per week, and the 

 limit for nets should be below Bridgetown. 



H. D. EcGCLES, Annapolis, said that he was a barrister and an ofiieer of the 

 People's Fish and Game Protective Association, and he fully endorsed Mr. Whit- 

 man's views. He said that the EoundhiU run of salmon are known by their larger 

 average size. He also pointed out that numbers of spent salmon are caught in a 

 weir coming down in June and July. 



H. E. ifAcK AY, ^r.P.P.. Lequille. said that he had lived near Lequille river for 18 

 years, and formerly salmon were plentiful. Indians and others got over a hundred by 

 dipping. Alewives were abundant, biit so scarce now that not a dozen had been taken 



