INTERIM REPORT 85 



the resulting fish have been caught, a different kind of salmon, it is claimed. There 

 are mills on the iver. White's mill, Pellet river, has a furnace and a little sawdust 

 gets into the water, but a lot of forest refuse is in the river. There is a dam across 

 lip which no salmon can go, and no fishway, but Inspector Chapman thought that 

 there was sufficient spawning ground below for thirteen or fourteen miles below the 

 dam. Above the dam it is hilly country, not settled, extending up through Elgin. 

 There are fine trout in Lake Elgin. A little miU cutting 3,000 or 4,000 feet is up 

 above. Humphry did let sawdust in but he now handles it, having spent $3,000 on it, 

 and he feeds his engine with the sawdust. A big mill at Petitcodiac has a dam 8 feet 

 high blocking the main river: five miles above here is a grist mill and disused saw- 

 mill, and a fishway could be easily put in the dam. The inspector thought that sal- 

 mon could get over it. 



J. Xelsox Smith, Lower Coverdale, Albert Co., said that 40 years ago shad 

 were plentiful. They were caught in drift nets and were sold very cheaply, viz., $4 

 per half-barrel .and the very best at $5, all sizes were caught. They began to dwindle 

 20 to f?5 years ago. They got scarce gradually, and men gave up fishing as it did not 

 pay. In my locality only two shad boats now, compared with a dozen long ago. There 

 were 37 boats at Belliveau's village alone, now not more than 22 boats altogether. If 

 shad were still plentiful we would know it. I often caught shad with a scoop net on 

 the flats, the water was fuU of them. At times a salmon would be got but no one looks 

 for them now. There were always a few averaging 5 to 8 pounds. The September 

 shad were fine and fat, but I never saw spawn in one when dressing shad. It would 

 be a great benefit if shad were brought back, everybody would benefit. I don't think 

 that the men here catch shad or salmon before they spawn, but the St. John fish are 

 full of spawn. 



G. Jox^s, FARiiER^ Petitcodiac En"ER, said, I was bom here and can sjieak from 

 58 years experience and knowledge. Shad come up this river for four weeks, but the 

 smelt only one week. I have seen shad very thick within a few years. They are 

 thicker now than formerly and are caught and sold. Many are speared. Two and a 

 half barrels were sold fresh at one time at 25 to 30 cents each this season. I know 

 the men who caught them. The St. John river was the main source of the Bay of 

 Fundy shad and this river was insignificant in quantity. At the last of Jime and in 

 July, I have seen young shad IJ inches long close inshore. They moved like a thick 

 band close in to get away from the trout and eels. I caught some with my hand. 

 They were deep chunky fish and very silvery, two or two and a half inches long, and 

 quite unlike suckers which are round. They go down in September. There is a fine 

 salmon pool just here. The salmon buries its spawn. The fly is no success here with 

 salmon. I have taken many parties out but no man ever got a salmon. Sheriff Bots- 

 ford and Duncan King spent three days trying all kinds of flies 35 years ago, but 

 had no success. Men have tried since but without success. They say it is in the breed. 

 A new gamey kind of salmon should be planted here. I believe that shad ought to be 

 protected. If not harrassed and caught out they would be here in great numbers. We 

 have known that shad came, but they never took our attention like the salmon. Gas- 

 pereau are here about the same time as the smelt, about May 1. They are not so 

 thick as when I was a boy, forty-five years ago, in the main river. Shad and gas-, 

 pereau always take the black water and were so thick we just dipped them out with 

 our hands. In Jones' brook close by the farm the water was solid with them. A few- 

 still come. Eels are plentiful of large size. Lamper eels spawn here and die every 

 year. The river is offensive with the decayed bodies some three and four feet long. 

 They don't go I think up to headwaters but die in quantities around here. I have 

 seen big shad many five and sis pounds, but seven and eight pounds fish and I have 

 seen even nine pound shad. All are large fish, ify man got many here in the spring 

 of l&O", out of 28 shad he got half a dozen were very large. It is a shame to take nets 



