1186 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHEEIES. [4] 



schools of mackerel which reappeared, after an absence of many years, 

 on the old fishing-grounds of the Gulf and bays. The cod fishery off 

 the coast of Gasp6 is too precarious, and the quality of the fish is not 

 fine enough to satisfy American fishermen, who prefer to risk the perils 

 of the storms and to fish on the banks. 



The Jersey fishery establishments, however, carry on the routine of 

 their stations on the coasts of the Gulf year after year, having had but 

 little variation during the past hundred years, except the startling one 

 that of late years the losses on the shipments are of more frequent oc- 

 currence. The causes of this may be attributed to the formidable com- 

 petition of the jS"orwegian fisheries, in the first place, and recently to the 

 enormous export from Newfoundland (440,529 quintals) between the 

 1st of August and 15th of December, 1883, being in excess of 1882 by 

 126,140 quintals, which operated as an avalanche on the foreign mar- 

 kets. 



Shippers here paid $4 to $5 per quintal for their export cargoes. 

 Freight to Eio Janeiro was 3s. 6d. sterling per steamship, and 46-. 9d. 

 sterling per sailing vessel, per tub, 128 pounds, Portuguese quintal; 

 freight to Naples, 3s. 3*^.. sterling per quintal per sailing vessel. During 

 1883 there were shipped in 21 vessels a total of 54,794 quintals of dry 

 cod, valued at $280,460. destined for the West Indies, Brazil, and Medi- 

 terranean ports. . 



Salmon fishing proved excellent in yield both to the gill-netters and 

 anglers. The net owners received 7 cents per pound for it fresh ; and 

 pickled salmon was sold at $20 i)er barrel. 



Whalit)g is now an industry represented in Canada but by one little 

 schooner of 60 tons, which, after a three months' cruise^in the Strait of 

 Belle Isle, returned to port with the oil of four whales (4,800 gallons), 

 which was sent to Montreal and sold at 55 cents per gallon. 



The lobster fishery is reported as pursued with so little regard for the 

 future that more effective legislative action will be requiredfor its better 

 preservation. The business of the factories began in May and closed in 

 July. The product of five of them in this district is estimated at 90,000 

 pounds, in 1-pound cans. 



United States Constjlate, 



Gasps Basin, Qtiehec, January 10, 1884. 



5.— THE FISHERIES OF AUSTRALASIA IN 1882. 



By O. M. Spencer, Consul-General. 



From the report of the commissioners appointed by the Government 

 of Tasmania to inquire into the conditions of the fisheries of that colony 

 we gather the following interesting particulars: 



Including the successfully acclimatized European fishes, there are 



