306 president's addhess. 



powers conferred by these acts upon the local authorities are 

 very extensive : they can close mussel and oyster beds, can de- 

 termine the methods of fishing and the instruments which may 

 be used, and the form and size of such instruments ; they can 

 prohibit the deposit of deleterious substances, and can either fix 

 an annual close season or can close beds in rotation for a specific 

 number of years. By obtaining a Regulating Order under the 

 Act of 1868 they can fix the minimum sizes for mussels and 

 cockles, receive power to plant beds, etc. In many districts 

 these new powers have been largely utilized. 



It is satisfactory to know that the regulation of fisheries in 

 foreign countries and in our own colonies is receiving close 

 attention. The immense importance of these colonial industries 

 can scarcely be exaggerated, but it seems that much requires to 

 be done yet in the way ot legal enactments. Thus it is stated 

 that "at eight lobster-canning factories in Canada 35,157 berried 

 females are captured daily, carrying about 703,140,000 eggs. 

 The number of ova consigned to the boiling vats of the canneries 

 in violation of law is said to be about 17,578,500,000 during the 

 short season of two months at these eight factories alone, and 

 since there are some five hundred canning factories on the shores 

 of the maritime provinces, at which the same method seems to 

 be practised, it is clear that the destruction of lobster ova is 

 enormous," and complaints are made both in Canada and New- 

 foundland of the shrinkage of the lobster fisheries. "Various 

 proposals have been made to remedy this state of things, but up 

 to this time nothing effectual appears to have been done, ex- 

 cepting in the establishment of artificial hatcheries, to which I 

 shall refer further. 



The measures which have been proposed or adopted by various 

 European countries to protect and improve the fisheries, are, 

 according to Dr, Fulton, as follows: (1) the total or partial 

 prohibition of certain modes of fishing deemed injurious ; (2) 

 the enforcement of close times ; (3) prohibition of the capture, 

 landing, or sale of immature fish ; (4) protection of spawning 

 grounds; (5) destruction of the enemies of the food fishes, as 



