124 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



pelled to work for his support and those that may be dependent upon 

 him. Few fishermen get rich, while a great many of us remain poor. 

 He may abandon his business, and stop on shore. With a few nets, or 

 some other implements of fishery, he may be able to procure means to 

 supply his wants. 



The great question is, What is the danger of exhausting our fisheries 

 if these modes of fishing are continued? 



Nets have been used from time immemorial. We have an authentic 

 history, that has come down to us, that tells us that more than 1,800 

 years ago, Jesus, walking by the sea of Gallilee,. saw two brethren — 

 Simon, called Peter, and Andrew, his brother — casting a net into 

 the sea, for they were fishers, and he said unto them, Follow me, and 

 I will make you fishers of men ; and straightway they left their nets 

 and they followed him. And going out from thence he saw other 

 two brethren, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in 

 a ship, Avith Zebedee, their father, mending their nets ; and he called 

 them, and they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed 

 him. This not only shows that nets were in use at that remote period, 

 but that they also needed mending, plainly indicating that they were 

 somewhat like our nets. 



From the foregoing considerations that I have so briefly stated, your 

 committee came unanimously to the conclusion that it was their duty 

 to report that the petitioners have leave to withdraw. 



