4 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATIOM 



no resolution was passed, it was deeniqd advisable that the operation 

 of the steam trawlers should be restricted to a certain extent. The 

 whole subject was, however, in a chaotic condition and it was not 

 thought . advisable to take any definite action in connection with it. 

 Since then, the Canadian government has taken action and limited the 

 field of operation of steam trawlers to twelve. miles off shore. There 

 was also a very important investigation being carried on by the Bureau 

 of Fisheries at Washington. That investigation has been completed 

 and the results have been published. The United States authorities 

 suggest that international action be taken to limit the field of operation 

 of steam trawlers along the Atlantic coast. Thus, our chief purpose 

 in connection with the discussion at the meeting of three years ago 

 has already beien carried out; the field has been restricted and the 

 United , ^tates report has been published, It might be well to con- 

 sider jyihether we should 1 urge that; international action be taljep,; 

 although I presume that such action will be considered apart from 

 anything we might propose in that connection. 



S'?'?*™^.'** Among other subjects discussed at the meeting of 1912 



Whitefish " •", ,./-,., , T.^ ,;r T 



Pry was a paper on the whitensh mdustry, by Mr. M. J. 



Patton, at that time Assistant Secretary of the Com- 

 mission. In that connection this resolution was moved — I wish to read 

 these resolutions in order to connect the work of this meeting with the 

 work of the former meeting: 



" Resolved that this Committee, while recognizing and appreciating 

 the value of what has already been undertaken by the Department of 

 Marine and Fisheries, urge upon the Dominion Government the neces- 

 sity of planting, at the earliest practicable time, whitefish fry in lake 

 Superior and in lake Huron and Georgian bay in sufficiently large 

 quantities to prevent the depletion of those waters." 



A considei^able addition has been made, I understand, to the opera- 

 tions of the Dept. of Fisheries in connection with the planting of 

 whitefish fry. I asked Mr. A. Donnell, of the staff, to ascertain just 

 what had been done in this respect. We have ascertained that the total 

 number of fry deposited in the Great Lakes region in 1912, the yei;r 

 in whiph our Coinmittee met previously, was 04,000,000. In l9l3, me 

 number had been increased to 137,000,000, of which 20,000,000 had 

 been deposited in lake Superior. We felt at the time that the planting of 

 fry in lake Superior was essential to the proper development of the 

 whitefish industry in the Great lakes. In 1914, the number had 

 been further increased to 175,500,000, of which 26,500,000 had been 

 deposited in lake Superior, and, in 1915, the number was still further 

 increased to 281,600,000, with 28,000,000 deposited in lake Superior, 



