7 
This marvellous record of expansion, while proving the 
importance and magnitude of salmon canning, suggests the 
possibilities offered by other branches of the fishing industry. 
The yield of the Atlantic Coast fisheries, important as it is as an 
item in the economic fabric of Canada, might easily be duplicated, 
if not surpassed, on the Pacific Coast were our fisheries developed 
to one-half the extent of their potentialities. The Atlantic fisheries 
—1i. e., those of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick 
and Quebec—produced in an average year $14,210,500, against 
$4,364,500 produced by British Columbia, of which $3,753,800 was 
derived from salmon, the value of all other fish being $610,700; 
no account being taken of the fresh-water fishes, of which there 
is a great abundance in the rivers and lakes of the Province. The 
total value of the fisheries of the whole of Canada in the year 
quoted was $21,959,500, so that British Columbia’s contribution was 
about 20 per cent. of the total, and of that percentage 86 per cent. 
was credited to salmon. Such figures, taken in conjunction with 
the fact that the Atlantic fisheries have reached a stage of develop- 
ment which is already taxing their resources, while those of British 
Columbia have been seriously exploited in only one branch of the 
industry, it is only reasonable to anticipate very great results 
when British Columbia’s fisheries are more fully developed. 
Practically inexhaustible, the only limit to their possible yield 
would be the lack of a market. 
Another significant fact bearing upon the importance of 
British Columbia’s fisheries, is found in the large revenue which 
they return to the Dominion Government. To encourage the 
fishing industry on the Atlantic Coast, the Government, in 1882, 
offered bounties to owners and crews of fishing vessels at the rate 
of $2.00 per ton, and to owners and crews of fishing boats at the 
rate of $5.00 per man. These bounties are distributed annually, 
the total amount paid from 1882 to 1907, inclusive, being $4,105,815. 
This large amount (averaging $157,915 yearly) was divided 
among the vessel owners and fishermen of Prince Edward Island, 
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec—those of British 
Columbia receiving nothing. During the five years, from 1904 to 
1908, inclusive, the Dominion expended $397,500 on the fisheries of 
the Maritime Provinces, over and above the bounties, and only 
$114,250 on the British Columbia fisheries. In the same period, the 
fisheries of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick 
and Quebec, combined, furnished revenue to the Dominion totalling 
$117,684, while those of British Columbia contributed $234,512, 
