22 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



it was decided that, owing to the length of the time they would be in 

 transit, it was out of the question to ship fresh fish to England. They 

 would be in transit at least ten or twelve days and you could not hope 

 to ship fish and have them land in good condition after that length of 

 time. So the samples sent over were fresh fish frozen and packed in 

 cases, mild-cured fish, baddies, kippers, fillets and bloaters. These are 

 frozen. These fish were brought to Montreal and we put them into 

 our own cold storage. L,ast week the Corsican, which has suitable cold- 

 storage accommodation, took these fish aboard into another cold room, 

 so they would be practically in cold storage from the time they were 

 cured until they reach Liverpool. It has always been a source of annoy- 

 ance to me to see the poor service we get compared to the service given 

 to the fish trade in England, where fish trains run ahead of express 

 and mail. Here, the fish train runs last — and the fish trade are treated 

 along the same lines. 



Mr. Cowie : I havfe little to add to what Mr. Byrne has said. He 

 has read us a very comprehensive paper, and I am sure it has been of 

 great interest to the Committee. Coming from a man who is directly 

 engaged in the business and who is so prominently engaged therein, it 

 must be looked upon as a very excellent contribution to the addresses 

 and papers of the Conservation Commission. 



In connection with this question of the good or bad quality of the 

 fish taken by steam trawlers, I agree with Mr. Byrne that the finest 

 fish we have landed on our shores here, as well as on the shores of 

 the British Isles, are the fish that are taken by hook and line near the 

 shore. Trawling, of course, brings us huge supplies of fish and, as 

 Mr. Byrne has said, ensures steady supplies. Vessels can be sent to 

 sea and come in on certain days; contracts can be made with inland 

 centres and fish supplied just like any other commodity that can be 

 produced at will. But the quality of the fish is quite another thing. In 

 the trawl net all kinds of fish and all kinds of material from the bottom 

 of the ocean are mixed up together. Sometimes a net is in the water 

 and is dragged for two or three hours at a time. The fish are all rolled 

 over each other and they become scaled and sickly looking by the time 

 they are brought on deck. Sometimes these vessels go so far to sea 

 that they are out a couple of weeks, and often the bulk of their catches, 

 when they make these long voyages, is in such bad condition that they 

 have to be split and dried and cannot be used for the fresh-fish market. 

 Of course I do not mean to say that trawl-fishing could not be utilized 

 to advantage on the coast here, seeing that a good quality of fresh fish 

 could be readily landed as they have not very far to go to sea to get a 



