lyiEIilM REPORT 43 



not pay, a big: fish might be caught, but the Pisarinco (Lorneville) men get a different 

 fish from ours and can use a bigger mesh. I notice spawn in our salmon but it is' 

 small. Six or seven years Hants and Colchester (Portaupique) men petitioned for the 

 close season from June 15 to August 15, but it shut us out too early some said. Tliree 

 things have depleted fish, viz. : weirs, dams and sawdust, but the last is worst as it 

 stays on the sandbars on which the shad feed. The best remedy to restore the fish is 

 protect the spawning fish. 



Dr. Creelmax. Maitlaxd. said that a hatchery ought to be established and he 

 heartily endorsed all that had been said. He thought that the commission should be 

 satisfied with the morning's work as the evidence afforded a clear and comprehensive 

 view of the shad question. He knew that the shad did not go further than the mouth 

 of the river, i.e., the middle Stewiacke, except very occasionally. 



Thojias Creelmas, Prixceport. said he had 10 years experience river fishing. He 

 usf-d the drift net. The net is 35 fathoms long and 3 or 4 feet deep. We get only 

 t'lree or four shad to a boat in a night, but up river 100 to 250 is a common catch. 

 Once or twice in the season we find gaspereau strike our nets, and we can tell it at 

 onoe, but they do not mesh. I consider the striped bass the worst fish of all, it is 

 destructive. A boy caught an eel once and a bass jumped and grabbed it and was 

 pulled into the boat. Gaspereau nets do no harm to shad. We fish in muddy water. 

 We got only 70 or 80 spawn shad, but one Truro man takes 300 spawn shad up the 

 river. Green's creek has two dams but no fishway. I have seen shad five miles up the 

 river when the dam was broken and injiired, but none since the dam was repaired. 

 Sawdust is injurious a.s it smells bad. The government once paid $300 towards a fish- 

 way on Fivemile river. Thousands of salmon are killed by log booms coming down. 

 Dickey's mill should be looked after. Don't think of one class of men when dealing 

 with shad and salmon matters. The officer (Macdonald) does not do his duty regard- 

 ing sawdust and other injuries. Of course Stewiacke men will object to restricting 

 fishing in fresh water, but one Truro man made $500 in a season. Eels should be 

 caught out if it could be done as barrels could be taken. There is no sale for them, 

 freight also is too costly. They eat the spawn of other fish. They can be caught in 

 the winter. One serious matter is the sunk wire-net weirs set from the Forks up; they 

 scoop out the fish. 



Tenth Sitting. 



Shubexacadie, X.S., August 11, 1908. 



Professor Prince having opened the sitting, and Mr. Morrison having added some 

 introductory remarks, evidence was taken. • 



WiLLUM M. Xelsox, Shibexacadbe, said that he was a shoemaker but had fished 

 for some years shad, gaspereau and salmon. He fished just at one place near the 

 town. The gasperegu appeared about the middle of April ; the 13th is the earliest and 

 they last to the end of June. They ascend by spurts, some day a lot. and then none, 

 the later runs are not so good. There are two kinds, mulheaden or blackbellies and 

 alewives or gaspereau, the former being dark inside and Maitland people think they 

 are a cross between herring and gaspereau, they run last. Two weeks after the gasper- 

 f .' u come the shad. Occasionally the gaspereau nets take a shad, but the mesh is too 

 small to take many. A stray Bay shad, a shorter, fatter fish, is taken especially if a 



3491—7 



