Mr. J, G. Bourinot on Canada! s Marine end Fisheries, 7 



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cans, who immediately embarked in thi3 enterprise with a vigour which 

 astonished the people of the maritime provinces. The fisheries they value 

 most are those of mackerel, which are only to be prosecuted with profit in 

 Canadian waters — off Capo Breton and Prince Edward Island, and in the 

 Bay of Chaleurs especially. During the time they had access to the 

 fisheries they also availed themselves largely of their right of fishing for 

 cod and herring in the Bay of Fundy, and in other bays within the three 

 miles limit of the shores of the maritime provinces ; but it is the mackerel 

 that they chiefly covet, and for which they have always been prepared to 

 make certain commercial concessions. Now that they are again to enjoy 

 the rights they possessed under the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854-65, it is 

 important to consider the value of the fisheries we concede to them, and 

 the value of the concessions we receive in exchange ; 1 shall therefore at- 

 tempt to present some facts and figures which may illustrate a subject of 

 considerable interest at the present juncture, when a Commission must 

 shortly sit at Halifax to consider the question whether any pecuniary com- 

 pensation is due to Ui over and above the right which we are to enjoy of 

 taking our fish free into the American markets. 



It is very difficult to get at full and accurate estimates of the tonnage 

 and value of the fish actually caught by the Americans in our waters. 

 According to a return lately issued by the Secretary of State, Washington, 

 the following represents the tonnage employed for a number of years in the 

 deep-sea fisheries : — 



Massachusetts is that State of the Union which devotes most attention to 

 the mackerel fishery; the total value of the catch in 1855 having been 

 $1,355,332, and in 1865, $1,886,837. The value of the cod fishery of the 

 same State during the same years was $1,413,413 and $2,689,723 respec- 

 tively. 



The total value of the American fishery in 1864, when the Reciprocity 

 Treaty was still in operation, but the Civil War had sadly disturbed this 

 branch of industry, is put down as follows by the same American 

 authority : — 



Whale-fishery $4,871,347 in gold 



Cod and mackerel-fishery . . , 4,026,849 „ 



Total $8,898,196 



But if we go back to 1860, before the war occurred to cripple thi» 

 branch of industry, especially in the case of the whale fishery, we find the 

 amount of tonnage employed was in the aggregate nearly double that of 



