UNUTILIZED FISHERIES RESOURCES 59 



They are found in so many of our interior rivers that I am satisfied a 

 market could be created. At certain times of the year the crayfish 

 produce two little calcareous bodies in the first part of the stomach; 

 they are called ' crab's eyes ' or gastroliths. These hard bodies, like 

 lime buttons, about half an inch in diameter, are supposed to be pro- 

 duced before the creature sheds its shell and the gastroliths are 

 assumed to be the limey matter which is to help form the new shell, so 

 that every year when the shell is shed the gastroliths are produced in 

 the stomach of the crayfish. They have long been used in China and 

 Japan as medicine and realize a very high price. I have had inquiries 

 from different Japanese officials as to whether these ' crab's eyes ' 

 could be obtained in Canada and, if they could be, they would realize 

 a very high price in the Japanese market. 



The question of the utilization of whales, porpoises, 



Whales, sea-lions, etc., is an important one. We have too long 



Walruses, etc. „ ' [ . \. . , , 



allowed our American friends to go into our northern 



waters and utilize these valuable products. Considerable fortunes have 

 been made from Canadian whales and walruses by enterprising in- 

 truders.. I remember many years ago some American boats coming 

 into Hudson ba:y and carrying off many tons of valuable walrus ivory 

 and I noticed the other day that a boat came into Seattle from Nome, 

 Alaska, after two very successful cruises in our northern waters. She 

 reported that on her first cruise she secured 837 walruses, and on her 

 second, 516. These produce a valuable ivory and oil and their hides are 

 of considerable value, too. I am quite satisfied that these fisheries are 

 carried on in our own Canadian waters and that they probably centre 

 at Herschel island and make trips from there just as on the east they 

 make excursions from some place like Marble island in Hudson bay. 

 I often think we might have listened to the advice of Sir John Schultz 

 who, thirty years ago, said our Arctic Waters would yet prove to be the 

 last habitat of those most valuable Arctic animals, the right whale and 

 the walrus, and that some effort should be made to prevent their being 

 entirely destroyed. 



Potash and ''■ ^^'^ intended saying a word or two about the kelp 



Iodine industry but that is a special subject and I had better 



from Kelp ig^ve it over. The Dept. of Agriculture have been 



carrying on some experiments with kelp, from which potash and 

 other valuable products are extracted, and I will only give you one or 

 two facts which I think are well worth notice before I sit down. It 

 is in regard to the value of the kelp industry as a source of potassium 

 chloride. Professor Cameron of Manitoba university has carried on a 



