84 SHAD FISHEin COUMlSSIOy 



different from the earlier runs and should not he used for hatchery purposes. The 

 regular fishermen caught parent salmon for the Dominion government's hatchery on 

 the lllramichi and took far more than they sold to the hatchery, but as they were 

 under special conditions nothing could be done and the surplus salmon were salted. 

 The salted fish ran about ten pounds and are better in quality than the famous Resti- 

 gouche fish. The latter run twenty pounds and over, while the Nepiquisset salmon 

 are about ten pounds on the average. The Bay of Pundy salmon are five pounds 

 weight as a rule. 



Twenty-fifth Sitting. 



Salisblry, X.B., October 7, 1908. 



Professor Prince, chairman of the commission, opened the sitting, and the fol- 

 lowing evidence was taken : — 



James A. Steeves, Coverdale, Albert Co., said: I am fishery officer and have 

 imder my charge the Petitcodiac river and tributaries, 25 or 30 miles of the river. I 

 do not go below the head of tide as they drift with nets below and take shad and sal- 

 mon. The idea is to protect the spawning fish above the head of tide. I never knew 

 shad to come here until two or three years ago. It is not more than three or four years 

 ago that I heard of them in numbers coming up with the tide. They are caught in 

 greatest numbers four or five miles above Salisbury, near Collier's bridge, where there 

 is a reach of river about a mile of clean gravel bottom and no mud, Intervale river 

 it is called. I do not begin duty till the salmon run, as I have no instructions to 

 attend to the shad. The spear was the first way of taking shad. It is unlawful and 

 I don't allow it. I cannot do anything if I find a man netting shad, but the men are 

 afraid that some action can be taken against them. Several barrels of shad were 

 shipped from this part of the river lately, this last spring. The shad may have been 

 coming up this last fifty years but no one knew. I talked to Mr. Taylor who is across 

 the river, and he thinks they come here every spring, in early May and June. The 

 smelts come up for a week or ten days about May 1, or the last of April, to spawn. 

 If the shad have come up, as it seems they have done, they must spawn. About Hills- 

 boro' the river was fuU of schooners shad fishing. I have been told by Mr. Jones, a 

 farmer living four miles above here, that he noticed schools of small fish with very 

 bright scales, small shad he believed them to be. They were three or four inches 

 long and had a deep body. There were lots of them. Possibly in the fall they 

 are along the river shore. I have been told that eight or ten miles above 

 here great quantities of gaspereau were got in spring. No one now pays atten- 

 tion to them though they may still come up. Salmon appear the last part of June and 

 during July, depending on the tides. The water is muddy, but after the tide goes 

 down it is clear but brackish, and the fish ascend to fresh water. There is no netting 

 after August 15, but fishing with fly is allowed. The spear is forbidden for salmon. 

 Mr. Jones has one of the best salmon pools and a St. John angler ' Kiltie.' Jones 

 tried to get some salmon but did not succeed; perhaps he had not the right tackle. 

 The fish are most numerous when we have big tides. They continue till September 

 and October. They average 5 or 6 pounds, ranging from 3 to 12 or 15 pounds, though 

 rarely over 12 pounds. I have noticed ' black ' salmon usually large fish. On the 

 river (the Pollet) I saw in the fall red-colodred, hook-nosed salmon 12 pounds weight 

 perhaps. The Pollet is the chief spawning river for salmon, as the main river is dark 

 water from flat swampy country. Fry have been planted eight or ten miles up and 



