8 Mr. J. G. Bourijiot on Canada^ s Marine and Fisheries, 



1865, and the catch may be fairly valued at between $14,000,000 and 

 $15,000,000 — the value of the whale fishery alone having been $6,504,838. 

 Mr. E. H. Derby, in his official report laid before Congress during 1867, 

 cites authority to prove that " during the two last years of the Reciprocity 

 Treaty the United States had fishing in the Gulf of St. Laurence and ]^^^y 

 of Chaleurs, no less than 600 sail, which must have taken fish to the amount 

 of $4,500,000." The same authority says that " nearly one fourth of our 

 fishing fleet, with a tonnage of 40,000 to 50,000 tons, worth $5,000,000 to 

 $7,000,000 annually, fish near the three miles limit of the provinces " — 

 " near" being Mr. Derby's euphemism for " within." Since the repeal of 

 the Reciprocity Treaty, and the disturbance of commerce and industry by 

 the civil war, the fisheries have not b-^en prosecuted to the same extent that 

 they were up to 1865 ; but the moment the new treaty comes into force, 

 American fishermen will flock in larger numbers to the Gulf and Bay, and 

 enter into the most active competition with our own people. Even under 

 the license system, which was so persistently evaded, 454 licenses were 

 issued in 1866 to American vessels — which by no means represented the 

 total number known to have fished within a marine league of our shores. 

 The Minister of Marine and Fisheries of Canada calculates that the Ameri- 

 cans employ between eight and eleven hundred vessels in our fisheries, and 

 that their annual catch, chiefly within the three miles limit, may be valued 

 at upwards of $8,000,000. It is safe to say, with all these facts before us, 

 that the money value of the concessions made to the United States will be 

 between $6,000,000 and $7,000,000 Canadian currency — a very moderate 

 estimate, if the New England fishermen go into the fisheries hereafter 

 with anything like the energj'- they displayed under the Reciprocity 

 Treaty. 



Now in considering the value of the concessions on the part of the United 

 States, we may as well leave altogether out of the account the privilege of 

 fishing on the American coast, a privilege which will not be used by the 

 Nova Scotians or New Brunswickers to any extent worth mentioning. The 

 repeal of the duties on the Canadian fish brought into the American market, 

 however, is a valuable concession to a leading interest of the Dominion, but 

 it is still very far from being adequate compensation for the use of the 

 fisheries. According to the same authority from which we have previously 

 quoted— and on a question of this kind it is advisable, when practicable, to 

 quote from American official documents — the United States received the 

 following produce of the fisheries from all British North America, and col- 

 lected the following duties thereon in 1867 : — 



$1,773,669 $382,300 



