6 



Ister of Marine and Fisheries ? We find a 

 report from Lansing in the Evening 

 ♦• News," of 1895. as follows :— 



The hopes cC the state fish commission, and many 

 others, who believe that the great lakes are being 

 depleted of whiteflsh, that the present legislature 

 would enact some protective laws, have gone 

 glimmering. A Bill to make November a closed 

 season was discussed for an hour and a half in 

 committee of the whole yesterday afternoon, anil 

 then killed. The chief argument against it was, 

 that no other state bordering on the lakes has a 

 closed season, and until they do make one It i? 

 unfair to stop the business of Michigan fishermen 

 at any season of the year. 



That is the position they talce in Michigan. 

 They talje a similar position in the state 

 of Ohio. These are the states tliat are al- 

 most in proximity to our own border, and 

 where tliere is not the slightest doubt that 

 if fish are not caught on the one side they 

 are caught on the other, I would ask the 

 Minister, if he still holds the same view on 

 this question, to send Professor Prince to 

 the shore of the county of Essex, and he 

 will find in large quantities, German carpe, 

 a fish placed in American watei*s some years 

 ago. 'J'his is a deep-water fish. They have 

 been coming on the shores of Essex for the 

 purpose of spawning, and so thick are they 

 that people have come down to the lake at 

 night, and- the press of the county has call- 

 ed attention to the wholesale slaughter and 

 destruction of these fish. This is positive 

 proof that the fish go from one side to the 

 othe/. Here is an additional proof, that 

 our whitefish are caught by the Americans 

 on the other side of the lake. The same re- 

 mark applies to the depletion of our fish- 

 eries if they are in the condition the Min- 

 ister alleges, because, during the last thirty 

 years, probably not less than 100,000,000 

 pounds, approximately, of fish have been 

 taken by the Americans out of Lake Erie 

 more than have been caught by the Cana- 

 dians. It would take the fishermen of 



Nova Scotia twelve years, that is, employ- 

 ing the whole 24,000 fishermen of that pro- 

 1 vince, to make up a quantity equal to that 

 to which I have alluded as having been 

 taken by the Americans out of Lake Erie 

 during the last 30 years in excess of tlie 

 Canadian catch. 



The hon. Minister mentioned that we took 

 narrow ground, that we confine our argu- 

 ments and remarks to the shore of Lake 

 Erie. The effects of this policy can be seen 

 almost everywhere. The American fisher- 

 men are no doubt moving west to Lake 

 ; Superior and the Lake of the Woods. I 

 venture to say that from Lake Champlain 

 ! to the Lake of the Woods, in all in- 

 , temational waters, the Americans, throug)i 

 I the stupid policy of our Government, are 

 ! securing a great advantage over the Cana- 

 j dian fishermen. While oar people are pre- 

 vented from fishing, or only allowed to fish 

 ; to a very limited extent, the Americans are 

 i reaping vast profits from an enormous 

 trade. The figures relating to Lake Superi- 

 or will bear out this statement No doubt 

 ill that great inland sea the regulations 

 of the Fishery Department are less dam- 

 aging, and probably far fewer fish cross 

 the lake than in some of the other 

 lakes to which I have referred, but, 

 nevertheless, we find that the Ameri- 

 can people on that lake are doing 

 nearly all the business and are catch- 

 ing the greater part of the fish. Taking 

 the years 1880, 1885, 1889, as the basis of 

 calculation of the catch and value of white- 

 fish on both sides of Lake Superior for ten 

 years, from 1880 to 1889, inclusive, I find 

 the yearly average to be : Canada, 618,720 

 lbs., value, $49,497 ; United States, 3,575,8^:5 

 Ihs., value, $286,053 ; and for the ten years 

 named, in whitefish alone on Lake Superior 

 there was nearly thirty million pounds ex- 

 cess, and in value, about $2,300,000 excess 

 in actual figures for the years named are 

 as follows :— 



Yield and Value of Whitefish caught on both sides of Lake Superior — 1880, 1885,^1889. 



On that V>asis, for ten years at the same piice per pound, as used by the Department of Marine 

 and Fisheries, actual figures are: — Canada, 6,187,200 lbs.; United States, ,35,758,3.50 lbs. Total 

 value : Canada, $494,970 ; United States, .^2,86(),53(». 



