CONSERVATION IN LABRADOR 



table of the cheaper but excellent fish, such 

 as capelin, flounders, and dogfish, and should 

 reserve the more valuable cod for export. These 

 cheaper fish, if properly salted and dried, could 

 also be stored away for winter use. 



During the fishing-season the waters of the 

 harbors are lined with tons of fish viscera, 

 heads, and backbones, all rich in nitrogen and 

 of great value as plant-food. As long ago as 

 1855 Lord Strathcona, then Donald Alexan- 

 der Smith, discussed plans for the manufac- 

 ture of fish manure. The annual product of 

 the North American cod-fisheries was then 

 estimated to be one and a half million tons 

 of fresh fish. 



He says: "Not less than one half of this is 

 refuse thrown back into the sea, or left on the 

 shore to decay, and yet capable of yielding 

 150,000 tons of a valuable manure, almost half 

 that annually produced by Peru. . . . The waste 

 of fish on this coast is enormous and is only 

 comparable to the waste of buffalo in the Far 

 West. Every ton of fish is equal to at least 

 three head of cattle or fifteen sheep, and 

 Labrador yields millions of quintals annu- 

 ally." 



275 



