65 



.seat of the most e:^l!ensLve heri;ing fishery in America. This fish, well 

 .s:moked and of approved color, is a, great luxury for the forenoon lunch 

 and for the; tea-table ; and the time has been when a herriiag-box branded 

 "Digby,-" or wjjh the name of a well-known curer there, passed as 

 current in our .markets, without examination, as coin received at the 

 mint. This is high but; deserved praise. The whole quantity smoked 

 in 185Gwasbuta,pOO,boxes., The scenery inthevicinityof the"basin" 

 is truly beautiful; and the "basiti" itself is one of the safest shelters 

 for boats and vessels required, for the fishery that is to be found in 

 America. , 



The mackerel fishery is in favor, and, co;pp'ared with the cod and 

 herrmg fisheries, receives commendable .attention. The present state 

 of this jbranch of industry is to i)e attributed to the recent change in 

 our tariff of duties imposed on foreign-caught fish, and to the facilities 

 afforded by our warehouse system. This change, it hardly need be 

 said apphes to dried and smoked fish as well as to pickled ; and, were 

 the causes just assigned the true on^, it might be concluded by those 

 who are hot acquainted with the colonial character, that increased ex- 

 ertions would be witnessed on all the fishing grounds. Explanation is 

 easy. The mackerel fishery is the least laborious and the most profitable, ' 



I know something of the energy and skill of our fishermen, and 

 appreciate them highly; but I feel quite certain that under a system. of 

 ad valorem duties their competitors in Nova Scotia and elsewhere in 

 British America, will, ere long, supplant them in our own markets. As 

 has .been already remarked, the colonists inay take every kind of fish, 

 in any desirable, quantities, at their very homes, and without the expense 

 of large vessels or exteiisiye outfits; while the pursuit in the more dis- 

 tant haunts of cod and mackerel is-attended with less cost than from 

 the ports of Massachusetts and Maine — for the reason that the labor, 

 timber, iron, cordage, and canvass, necessary for the construction and 

 equipment of vessels, and the sg^lt, hooks and lines, for their Outfits, :^re 

 much cheaper. These advantages will be acknowledged at once, and 

 unless the observation of many years has led me astray, they are too 

 great to allow of the present reduced scale of impost. 



Severely as the late change of policy with regard to the admission 

 of foreign fish has been felt by all branches of our fisheries, the mack- 

 erel catchers have suffered the most. They still pursue the employment 

 in the hope of the restoration of specific duties, and because their local 

 position and other circumstances have- not, as yet, allowed them to 

 adopt any other. As was said by Fisher Ames, soon< aiter the organiza- 

 tion of the present national government, when appealing for protection 

 to our fishermen, "they are too poor, to sta.y-7-too poor to rerriove." 



It is eyeii so. During certain months of the year our vessels seek the 

 mackerel in the waters of Nova S,cotia and 'other British possessions; 

 but as our trea,ty with Great Britain rejq.uires them to keep three njiles 

 from the land, the fishery in the harrow straits, by the means of nets and 

 seines, is in colonial hands exclusively. The quantities of fish which die 

 colonists sometimes take in nets and seines are immense. It is not long 

 siiice forty thousand barrels were tjaught in three harbors of Nova Scotia 

 in a single season. This quantity is more than one-tenth of the whvle obtained 

 by all the vessels: of Massaclktsetig in the most -prosperom year. Yet these 

 6 



