80 SHAD FISHERY COHillSSIOW 



in St. John river should be stopped. I do not think that shad fishing should be stop- 

 ped here. Sawdust I think is bad for the fishing grounds. 



WiLLARD Barnes said: I fish and have heard Captain Peckham and I agree with 

 him. We don't catch any spawn shad here, and killing them is an injury. There are 

 eight boats fishing from here now in a distance of two miles. It would not pay to fit 

 up a new net to fish. 



Ja-\ies Ward said : I have fished shad but stopped fishing four years ago. I farm 

 now. I think the sawdust is the cause of the loss of shad. They don't come here to 

 feed now. 



EiiMERSOx J. RoDGERS Said: I fish now and have caught about 250 shad this sea- 

 son and sold them for 20 to 25 cents each. I also got five or sis salmon this summer. 

 There should be a- fishery overseer here as there is no officer here. The loss of the shad 

 is a serious thing to this community and we would like to see it restored. If the 

 fishery were closed down altogether for a short period it would not afiect me much. I 

 think that dumping the ofltal out of the boats as some do should be stopped, as it 

 brings in dog-fish and sharks which are injurious to the shad fishery. I split my shad 

 in my boat dressing them in the salt water and bringing the offal ashore. There should 

 be an officer to see that done in all cases. 



Ll'ther Snowdex said : I fish and farm, and I agree with the others as to causes 

 of the trouble and the remedy. 



Elfus Cook said: I fish and do carpenter work and I agree with the other wit- 

 nesses that the cause of the scarcity here is the catching of the spawn shad in the St. 

 John river. I have heard of them catching them for the past twenty years. Indeed I 

 heard my father talking about it when shad began to decline here. 



^Melbourne Burns said : I have fished until about seven years ago. It was a great 

 industry formerly and I have packed seventy-four half barrels of shad in four days 

 out of eight hauls. It would be a source of much profit to the i>eople here if it were 

 restored again. 



HcoH Campbell said: I agree with what the others have stated about the shad 

 fishing business matter. 



Joseph Prescott, fishery officer, was present, but did not give evidence. He had 

 driven over from Bay Verte, twenty miles, on purpose to attend the sitting and was 

 prepared to aid the commission in any way. 



Twenty-Third Sitting. 



Pre d'en Haut, N.B., October 5, 190S. 



Messrs. Morrison and Melanson having opened the sitting, evidence was taker. : — 



Dennis Richard said : I am 78 years of age and have fished for 66 years. I began 

 when I was a small boy. We then used a net 150 fathoms long, the mesh being 4J 

 inches, then it came down to 4J inches, and it is now 4J inches. We commenced with 

 47 meshes deep, but it is now 65 meshes. We fish altogether with drift nets and we 



