UNUTILIZED FISHERIES RESOURCES S3 



There is also a great waste of roes or eggs. When fish 

 WMte are cleaned, the entrails, including the ovaries or eggs, 



are thrown away. Apart from the sturgeon, which pro- 

 duces the high-priced caviare, the eggs of fishes have not, speaking gen- 

 erally, been of any market value in this country. They are not only 

 a most nutritious and excellent food but they are also of importance 

 and value in other ways. They are put up as rogue for the French 

 sardine industry and there was quite a demand, as long as the great 

 sardine industry was in a prosperous condition, for this rogue, which is 

 really the salted, packed eggs of such fish as the cod, haddock, pollock, 

 hake, the other well-known fish. It is used as a lure scattered in the 

 sea to attract and collect the wandering schools of sardines. The roes 

 are removed entire, packed solid and tightly in barrels after being 

 salted, and bring quite a good price. 



The Menace of the Dog-fish 



And now I come to rather an important subject, namely the dog- 

 fish. The utilization of this fish has formed a subject for very fre- 

 quent discussion. These fish are found in swarms off our Atlantic and 

 Pacific coasts. They roam the seas like packs of wolves and destroy 

 everything in, the shape of fish and fishing gear ; they are altogether a 

 serious menace. The Caraquet fishermen in New Brunswick, in 1903, 

 estimated their loss from dog-fish at $80,000 for one season and in Bos- 

 ton harbour in 1904 the loss to gear and destroyed fish was not less 

 than $10;000. Very frequently our fishermen have to cease operations 

 on account of the large numbers of dog-fish coming in and taking the 

 bait, biting the fish off the hooks and making holes in the net with 

 their sharp teeth. 



Government '^° encourage the destruction of these fish the Govem- 

 Reduction ment built some reduction works a few years ago. 



Works Three of these are operated by the Department of the 



Naval Service. The object of this was to make the dog-fish into fer- 

 tilizer or guano, and they have done so, but the difficulties in connection 

 with this are, first, that the supply is widely scattered and it is rather 

 costly to collect; second, the supplies are erratic and uncertain, some- 

 times there is great abundance of dog-fish and sometimes they are 

 scarce; then, third, there is a lack of technically trained men to con- 

 duct the reduction works. You cannot make the best of waste material 

 unless you have men trained to turn it to account, but the reduction 

 works have certainly got rid of quite a large number of dog-fish. 

 Fishermen have brought them into these works at Canso, at Ship- 



