58 SHAD FISHERY COMMIHHION 



previous to that large catclies of 1,000 and so on had been made. There is no doubt 

 that ours are the same shad as the Shubenaeadie and Stewiacke shad, but the latter 

 are older. 1 agree that traps and weirs ha\e much to do with the destruction, as all 

 sizes were taken, and those too small or not required were allowed to die. The weir.-, 

 &c., do not destroy large numbers of small shad, because there are no fish at all, large 

 or small, to speak of during the last few years. In former years shad were destroyed 

 unreasonably and millions were destroyed and the fishermen could not take care of 

 them even though they used horses and wagons to take them from the weirs. If 

 these shad not needed had been liberated things would not be as bad as they are now. 



The Kcv. W. Dawson said that he had ti^hed a good deal in the local rivers, and 

 the salmon were all small. The salmon got here are all grilse. Some British Colum- 

 bia salmon were brought here and we may be getting the product. Thirty years ago 

 1 suggested to the government to transplant salmon, and they started hatcheries on 

 the Eestigonche, &c., and some of our Atlantic salmon iwere shipped west and some 

 western salmon brought here. Grilse 3 to 4J lbs., females, are got full of spawn. The 

 British Columbia grilse are all 5 pounds. It seems to prove that these waters have 

 now British Columbia salmon in them. I saw in the Cornwallis river the first 5 lbs. 

 grilse, and before that no grilse had been known heavier than 4 lbs., on the nortli 

 shore. Hatcheries on this shore would be a great thing, as salmon planted would 

 return to this shore better than as at present, when fry from Bedford hatchery are 

 brought here. The law againSt the use of dynamite should be made severe. Not a 

 fine, but imprisonment, .should be the punishment for poaching- w'ith dynamit<' 

 Because of the use of dynamite, very few young salmon are in our waters this year. 



T. W. Morrison, Tolly Village, said that one point in regard to the planting of 

 salmon fry by the government he wished to call attention to. After the fry were put 

 in the rivers we found in 1883 and 1884 a run of salmon different from those we 

 knew here, a longer fish with longer head, and from that time they began to increa.^e 

 in size, and were a little coarser in build. The large mesh might pay, but some 

 fishermen do not agree with that view. I certainly think that a close season should 

 be enforced for shad. I have cleaned a great many shad, and not more than a couple 

 of shad were found in a season with spawn in them. We would throw them away as 

 garbage, not being fit for food. I have prepared a table of the catches of shad and 

 salmon which I made in the years 1874-5-6-9 and 1882-3. The catches began to fail 

 m 1883, and we fished for four or five years after that, but it did not pay. In one 

 year it will be noticed that, with the usual length of net, 18 bunches, 5,041 shad were 

 taken (in 1870). 



The witness handed to the commission, Mr. T. F. Morrison's account of shad 

 and salmon caught by him in the six years named above. See Appendix 2. 



Fifteenth Sitting. 



Great Village, N.S., August 17, 190S. 



Professor Prince and Mr. Morrison, commissioners, opened tlie sitting with the 

 usual formal statement of the objects and authority of the commission, and evidence 

 was then taken. 



Amos A. Hill said that when I began fishing 50 years ago, there were lots of 

 shad, and they were not taken in the rivers because it was not known that shad ran up 



