[31] OPERATIONS OF SCHOONER GRAMPUS. 521 



In former years there was an important cod-fishery about the Mag- 

 dalen Islands, which, in addition to a numerous fleet of boats that 

 sailed from various harbors, also drew thither a fleet of vessels of 

 greater or less proportions. Most of these vessels were from British 

 provincial ports, some that sailed under the French flag came from 

 Miquelon, and not unfrequently American schooners formed a portion 

 of the fleet. Usually these vessels fished 4k at a drift" on the shallow 

 rocky spots about the islands, and generally they were successful. 



In recent years the fishery has materially declined in importance. A 

 fleet of boats is still employed from the islands, but it appears that 

 fewer vessels now visit that region to fish for cod. 



In the various trials we had with hand-lines about theMagdalens the 

 results obtained showed that cod were very scarce. M. Turbid said 

 they have not been abundant at the Bird Rocks in recent years. This 

 statement was verified by three of the crew of a cod -fishing schooner 

 whom I met on the smaller Bird Rock, which they had visited to shoot 

 birds for food. Their vessel lay in the offing " drifting" for fish on a 

 shallow spot between the Bird Rocks and Byron Island. They had tried 

 for fish on nearly all the grounds around the Magdalens, they said, and 

 without exception had found cod very scarce. Indeed, they were em- 

 phatic in declaring that unless they were more fortunate than they had 

 been their voyage would be a failure. 



The shore cod-fishery on the coast of Newfoundland, from St. John's 

 around to the Strait of Bella Isle, has been in an unsatisfactory condi- 

 tion for several years. In many of the bays, where an extensive and 

 remunerative cod-fishery was formerly maintained, the cod has been so 

 scarce in recent years that only meager results could be obtained, aud 

 the coast fishermen have been reduced almost to starvation in some 

 localities. 



During the summer of 1887 the cod-fishery was in a very deplorable 

 condition on the northeast coast of Newfoundland. In the region from 

 Fogo Island to Canada Bay many of the fishermen had obtained little 

 more than enough fish for their own tables. 



On July 25 a fisherman at Seldom come by Harbor told me that he 

 had not caught, up to that date, more than one- half quintal of cod. 

 Similar statements were made by others. At Toulinguet I was in- 

 formed that a gang of four men operating a trap had taken only 3 

 quintals of cod. A few small fish were generally the result of a day's 

 fishing for a man, the amount being scarcely enough for the consump- 

 tion of his own family. At Canada Bay the same story was told. The 

 fishermen were disheartened. Day after day they went to the fishing 

 grounds with their boats and still no results. They had experienced a 

 year or two of special privation on account of the scarcity of cod, and 

 as fish is their only dependence they were next to hopeless. A French 

 schooner that lay iu one of the coves in Canada Bay, about 5 miles from 

 where we anchored, had been fishing all summer and getting next to 

 nothing. We made several trials with hand-lines, but caught no fish. 



