2 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



to have a meeting of the Committee during the Annual Meeting of the 

 Commission. It was very difficult at the first Annual Meeting, at which 

 the Committee was appointed in its present form, to have a meeting of 

 the Committee, and it was largely for that reason that we had the 

 meeting in the summer of 1912. Since then, we have had Committee 

 meetings in connection with the Annual Meeting but they have proved 

 unsatisfactory and we have felt that we were not accomplishing as 

 much as we desired. So it seemed best to have again a special meeting 

 of the Committee on Fisheries, Game and Fur-bearing Animals and 

 this meeting has been called that we might gather information regard- 

 ing the subjects with which we have to deal and perhaps do more to 

 advance the interests of the Committee than we could at the time of 

 the Annual Meeting. The Assistant to the Chairman of the Commission 

 and his staff have prepared a splendid programme and doubtless we 

 shall find that the meeting will be of great interest and also of great 

 value. 



^ogf^ss The first subject to engage the attention of our Com- 



Fisheries mittee and a subject which was considered at the 1912 



meeting, was that of a possible arrangement between 

 the Provincial Governments and the Dominion Government with 

 respect to thfe oyster fisheries, with the idea of leasing areas that 

 private companies might carry on oyster cultivation. Shortly after the 

 Committee was formed an understanding was reached between the 

 Federal Department of Fisheries and the Government of Prince 

 Edward Island whereby leases were made' of bottoms where oyster 

 farming was carried on in the Island. Later, that arrangement was 

 extended to the other Maritime provinces, Nova Scotia and New 

 Brunswick, with the exception of certain specified sections of the latter. 

 Thus, since that time, a good deal has been done in the way of the 

 formation of companies to carry on oyster farming along the shores 

 of the gulf of St. Lawrence, Northumberland strait and various other 

 sections of the Maritime provinces. During the Meeting of the Com- 

 mittee in 1912, we had with us Dr. Stafford, who had been employed 

 for some time by the Biological Board in connection with the work 

 carried on by them. His paper proved very interesting to those of us 

 who were present. His address was somewhat technical, as he is a 

 biologist and not definitely associated with the practical work of oyster 

 culture. However, his chief idea seemed to us to be capable of prac- 

 tical application. He had ascertained and followed the life of the 

 oyster from the egg through the larval stage until it was deposited as 



