20 The Fmhery Question : 



which English, French, and Arnericaus have equal rights of 

 fishing. When the question of compensation to all the provinces 

 came before the Commission in LS77, it was shown that the 

 Americans derived decided advantages from the privileges con- 

 ceded to them on the coasts of the island, of procuring bait and 

 supplies, refitting, drying, and transhipping their cargoes, while 

 their vessels contrive to prosecute the fisheries the whole season. 

 It is, however, as we have already shown, within three miles of 

 the bays and coasts of the maritime provinces of the Dominion 

 that the Americans prosecute the mackerel, herring, and other 

 fisheries, to which they attach so much value. The annual value 

 of the Canadian catch of mackerel is now about £i.j(),()00 a year, 

 and of the herring, £000,000, It is impossible, from American 

 statistical returns, to obtain the exact value of the tish caught 

 in Canadian waters by American tishermen, but if any one has 

 the patience to go through the evidence adduced before the Com- 

 mission of 1877, he will see that there has been for half a 

 century a large number of American vessels annually distributed 

 off the coasts of the Dominion. Between 400 and 500 vessels 

 annually pass through the Gut of Canseau on their way to the 

 mackerel fishery of the gulf, and it may be estimated that 

 altogether from 700 to 800 vessels now yearly compete with the 

 Canadians for their fisheries. Every schooner engaged in the 

 mackerel fishery takes on an average 300 barrels of that fish 

 alone, worth about £2 5s. each. The facilities enjoyed by the 

 Americans of landing and transhipping their fish to the United 

 States, as it may suit their convenience, under the treaties here- 

 tofore in force, have enabled them to compete with the Canadians 

 on the most favourable terms. Not only are the Canadians 

 forced to meet this formidable competition, but they find their 

 fisheries injuriously affected by the appliances used by the 

 Americans in prosecuting their vocation. One of the Canadian 

 inspectors, in charge of one of the most important maritime 

 districts, reports that " the practice of seine fishing is monopolized 

 almost entirely by the fishermen of the United States, and is 

 strongly protested against by the resident fishermen on the coast.^' 

 By this method the fish are culled, and all those too small to 

 furnish the required grade are thrown dead into the sea ; and 

 consequently there is an enormous waste of young fish every 

 year, and the fishing-grounds are seriously polluted. The same 

 officer also bears testimony to the vigorous prosecution of th6 

 Canadian fisheries by the Americans, and lets us into the secret 

 of the difficulty of obtaining accurate statistics of the American 

 catch in the waters cf the Dominion : 



The seining by the fishermen of the United States, which proved 

 to them so prolific of rich fares, was prosecuted almost entirely 



