PROBLEMS IN THE FISH BUSINESS 17 



our hands and I am pleased to say there are now in transit to England 

 — in cold storage of course — samples of various kinds of Canadian 

 fish which amount to about five cubic tons. It is hoped by the intro- 

 duction of our fish, which are being sent now to provide against tem- 

 porary scarcity, that it may be possible to develop a regular trade with 

 the Mother Country in many of our Canadian fish which are not 

 known over there and, if we succeed in doing so, it will be of immense 

 advantage to our fisheries, because it is not a question of shortage in 

 supply or difficulty in procuring the fish with us here in Canada. 



Our difficulty has been the shortage oi a market and, 



c}^^^J^V^\ if we can enlarge our market, we shall at the same 



of the Market . ° . ' . , , ,, 



time not only mcrease the production but we shall 



reduce the cost of producing, because, as you will understand, the fish 

 can be produced in larger quantities at lower cost. At the same time, 

 in August last, the Canadian Fisheries Association made a request of 

 the Dept. of Trade and Commerce for the appointment of a Com- 

 mission of practical men to proceed to England and study the require- 

 ments of the trade there to find out in what lines the shortage existed 

 and what we could supply. We have not yet succeeded in obtaining 

 this Commission but we have not yet given up hope; what the fisher- 

 man lives on mostly is hope ; he is always hopeful, that is what keeps 

 him going. 



Vai^ue op Canadian Fisheries 



Another word in connection with our fisheries with 



Encouraging respect to the value. The increase in the value of 

 Increase ^ ,. ^ , . ... , , 



Canadian fisheries withm recent years has been 



phenomenal. Whereas, until a few years ago, the annual value was. 

 $20,000,000, it is now from $30,000,000 to $35,000,000, and, as I have 

 said, there are immense possibilities for increasing that value. The 

 value of the British Columbia fisheries alone, as taken from the Govern- 

 ment records, amounts to nearly $12,000,000 for the past year. In 

 Nova Scotia it amounts to $8,000,000 ; in New Brunswick to $5,000,000 ; 

 in Ontario, practically all lake fish, to $2,750,000 ; in Quebec province 

 to $2,000,000, while in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta the value 

 is about $1,000,000. In the Prairie provinces new lines of railway 

 are developing areas containing immense lakes that have never been 

 commercially fished, and the production in that region will be increased 

 tremendously. 



