9 



The Canadian side is. and always has been, the 

 chief resort for the whitefish. The great flah- 

 marltets of Detroit and elsewhere look to the 

 Canadian side for their main supplies of white- 

 fish, which breed and are hatched and reared in 

 our waters. 



And yet the hon. Minister, in the face of 

 this important statement, and after limit- 

 ing the operations of Canadian fishermen 

 in the way he has done, now tells this 

 House and the country that the whitefish- 

 eries of Lake Erie are a thing of the past, 

 This gentleman continues : 



The November schools of whitefish, which pass 

 up the Canadian side, are all spawners, just about 

 to deposit theii' eggs. It is of the highest im- 

 portance to protect them just at that time — a time 

 which the present close season covers. 



Parent fish in rivers and lacustrine waters, 

 when ascending to the spawning grounds, always 

 take the most direct course, and are not easily 

 turned aside, as experienced fishermen are well 

 aware. No more erroneous Idea could be enter- 

 tained than the supposition that whitefish wan- 

 der aimlessly hither and thither from one side of 

 a river or lake to the other. In these waters, as 

 in other waters, it is certainly not the case that 

 the schools of breeding fish deviate from their 

 UEiual course, and cross from side to side so that 

 fish caught by American fishermen during our 

 close season would be caught by Canadians were 

 they permitted to fish at thnt time. 



Not only has our side been the chief resort for 

 the spawners, but the pollutions of Detroit city 

 and numerous factories on the American side, as 

 well ' as sewage and other deleterious matters, 

 have tended to drive the whitefish to the purer 

 waters on the Canadian side, and thus Increased 

 the school of spawners in our own waters. 



The numberless nets, traps and pounds set in 

 American waters and extending far from shore, 

 intercept the migrating fish, break up the spawn- 

 ing schools, and drive them to our side. Oar 

 close season affords them freedom from these 

 disturbances, and encourages them to come to our 

 side. 



Here we have the statement that Canadian 

 fish will remain in Oanaidian waters, while 

 American fish will cross over to Canadian 

 waters. Prof. Prince goes on : 



Perhaps the best testimony to the wisdom and 

 utility of the department's regulations Is fur- 

 nished by the attempts to establish In the state 

 of Michigan similar close seasons. Were the 

 present policy on the opposite shores so highly 

 satisfactory as many Canadian fishermen at times 

 imagine, such attempts would never be made. So 

 beneficial to all interested has the Canadian policy 

 proved to be, in the opinion of many leading men 

 in the state of Michigan, that, in order to save 

 their fisheries from destruction in these waters, 

 earnest efforts have been, and, no doubt, will be 

 made again to Imitate our restrictions and regu- 

 lations and enforce them on the United States 

 side. Were such uniform regulations enacted 

 and enforced, the alleged grievances of Canadian 

 fishermen would disappear, the planting and arti- 

 ficial propagation of whitefish on both sides would 

 have fair-play, and the future welfare of these 

 fisheries in these waters would be assured. 



Here is Prof. Prince, a gentleman who had 

 only recently arrived in this country, and 

 who perhaps had never seen a whitefish 

 before, alleging that the whitefish naturally 



resort to the Canadian side ; but, in view of 

 the confession of the hon. gentleman and 

 the reports we have that our whitefish are 

 absolutely ^rone, tliat Canadians have been 

 prevented from taking their fair Sihare, this 

 is in my opinion a sweeping condemnation 

 of the policy that has been pursued. 



I would like to knov; on what ground such 

 a policy can bo justified unless for the goo<l 

 of Canada. If the hon. gentleman could 

 show that his iwliey had develoi)ed the 

 fisheries and that the fish were in Canadian 

 waters for Canadians, although I believe 

 his policy is severe in many respects, that 

 would l>o almost a complete answer to the 

 complaint that has been made against the 

 Government policy. The hon. gentleman 

 sent up another professor, or rather 

 commander, who made a report in re- 

 ference to the fish in the Detroit River. 

 " Catch of whitefish and salmon-trout on 

 the Detroit River by Pi-of. Wakeham." and 

 the beauty of this thing is that not 50 trout 

 have been caught in the Detroit River for 

 the past 50 years. Yet one of these profes- 

 sors, a man with scientific knowledge, a 

 man who understands the movements of the 

 fish and all about them, goes to the Detroit 

 River under the instructions of the hon. 

 Minister and writes a report, no doubt, with 

 the viow of supporting his peculiar views 

 and policy, giving an essay on trout in the 

 Detroit River wben no trout can be found 

 there : 



Whitefish and trout do not remain long on the 

 spawning grounds ; they come in slowly, but di- 

 rectly they have spawned they return to deeper 

 water. It is not the case that what are called 

 Canadian fish are taken to any great extent in 

 United States waters. A few may str«,ggle from 

 the schools, but the gr^at mass of fish that spawn 

 in our waters never get within reach of seines or 

 pounds fished on the other side. 



Here is anoither certificate from another 

 professor who i^rof esses to understand the 

 movements of the fish and to have great 

 knowledge of the subject. He says that the 

 Canadian fish do not cross from side to 

 side. Then I would like the hon. Minister 

 to explain where the 800,000,000 pounds; of 

 fish, which is the excess caught by the 

 Americans in the last 20 years on I^ake 

 Erie have gone. It seems to me they must 

 have gone somewhere or other. If the 

 fish do not cross from side to side, the 

 Canadian fish must be on the Canadian 

 side, and we should have an increase. In 

 fact the fish should be so thick in Lake 

 Erie that they would almost be in the way 

 of the vessels. I believe, however, that the 

 fish have gone into the A7~-'»rican nets and 

 market. Take the statistic * 'by the 

 Department of Marine ana ^ and 



you will find that the loss to Cana a, in ten 

 years is $20,000,000 on Lake Btie alone. 

 Yet the hon. gentleman will get up and 

 say the statement that our fishermen are 

 idle is an e^ravagant one. Why, the very 

 fact that in the county of Essex, including 



