38 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



Initial Exoeri- '^^ 1904, a scheme of investigation was initiated by the 

 ments by Canadian Government, chiefly to discover the existence 



Mr.Cowie gf schools of 'fat' herring, to prove that drift-net 



fishing in the open sea was possible, and, lastly, that the quality of 

 the fresh herring in Canadian waters was not inferior to the fresh 

 herring of Europe. Mr. J. J. Cowie, a practical expert from Scot- 

 land, after four years' investigation, accomplished the most promising 

 results. He used drift-nets from a Scottish steam drifter, " No. 33," 

 which is still engaged in the work of the Dept. of the Naval Service. 

 Single catches of 20 to 30 and up to 60 and 70 barrels of herring were 

 taken in a single night by Mr. Cowie, and these were cured in the 

 Scottish fashion. Dr. Hjort, a Norwegian fisheries expert, after 

 reviewing these early experiments, expressed his satisfaction with the 

 work that had been done. To make a commercial success of our 

 herring industries, expert investigation on a much larger scale was 

 necessary. Mr. Cowie's work, on the whole, received little encourage- 

 ment from the fishing population or from fishing firms on the sea 

 coast. Indeed some strong opposition was experienced, though certain 

 firms, including the Whitmans of Canso, the Wilsons of Halifax, and 

 the firm of Bell-Irving and Co. on the Pacific coast, took the matter up 

 in earnest and attempted to develop a herring-curing industry on the 

 Scottish lines. 



Three difficulties were encountered by these pioneers in the her- 

 ring-curing enterprise : 



(1) Scarcity of labour, lack of fishermen, curers, etc.; 



(2) Impossibility of obtaining a staff of herring girls (gutters) ; 



(3) Uncertainty in the supply and alleged great fluctuations. 



Where are the Practically no fishing seems to be carried on in Canada 

 'Fat' Herring with the object of catching the younger, smaller, 

 of the Gu ? . ^^^ , i^ej-j-ing. Only a few barrels of younger herring 



are caught in the bays for use as bait. Where, then, are the sizes of 

 herrings which correspond to the Norwegian small 'fat' herring? 

 Are they, as is the case along the Norwegian coast, mainly confined 

 to some special areas, or are they in the open waters outside or inside 

 the gulf of St. Lawrence. Do they anywhere occur in such quantities 

 and under such circumstances that a new fishery of supreme import- 

 ance could be developed? That the younger stages or immature her- 

 rings must occur in larger quantities than the larger and older ones is 

 obvious. Possibly the younger year-classes are less numerous in a 

 special year or shorter series of years, but, during a longer period of 



