APPENDIX 483 



In regard to the salmon fisheries, it would appear from the 

 evidence that salmon are abundant in the rivers and along the 

 coast of the north-west side of Hudson Bay as well as in the 

 rivers of the northern shores of the continent. Your Com- 

 mittee consider it advisable thaf means should be adopted to 

 ascertain more accurately the extent and value of the salmon 

 fisheries of these regions, with a view to utilizing them for the 

 purposes of commerce and for the revenue which they may 

 afford. 



The seas adjoining the great territory which your Com- 

 mittee has had under investigation are frequented by whales of 

 different species, walruses, narwhals and a variety of seals. AU 

 these animals are valuable for their oil, but the large species 

 of whales have heretofore been most sought for. Only a few 

 years ago these animals had a much more extensive range than 

 at the present time. Owing to improvements in navigation and 

 methods of capture, they have, of late years, fallen an easier 

 prey to their pursuers and have taken shelter in the less fre- 

 quented seas of the northern coasts of Canada. 2^ow they are 

 being pursued to their last retreat by foreign whalers, and 

 some species are threatened with complete extinction in a few 

 years if this condition continues. It is to be borne in mind 

 that whales are long lived and slow-breeding animals. The 

 American whalers attack them with harpoons, explosive bombs 

 and lances, fired from large swivel-guns carried on steam 

 launches, instead of the old-fashioned weapons thrown by hand 

 from rowboats. These methods not only destroy the whales 

 with greater facility, but inspire the survivors with such terror 

 that they seek the most distant and inaccessible parts of the 

 northern seas and have entirely disappeared from the waters 

 in which they lived only a few years ago. 



Your Committee are informed that the Eussian Government 

 claim jurisdiction over the whale fisheries of the White Sea, and 

 exact a heavy license from each vessel engaged in the fishing, 

 and that the Alaska Pur Company asserts a similar authority 

 over the seal fisheries of Behring Sea, both of which are open 

 to the ocean, while Hudson Bay, Boothia Bay and other bays 

 and channels in the northern part of the Dominion, which are 

 resorted to by foreign whalers, may be considered as plosed 

 seas, being almost completely surrounded by our own territory. 

 Your Committee would, therefore, recommend that some meas- 

 ures may be adopted with a view to protecting the whale fish- 

 eries of our northern waters and at the same time of deriving 

 a revenue therefrom. Should this not be done, then as soon 



