28 



MARINE AND FISHERIES 



G-7 EDWARD VII., A. 1907 



Experiment No. 8. 



Dynamite, 'No. of sticks 2 



Depth of water, in fathoms. 30 



Depth of dynamite down in water, fathoms 30 



No. of fish killed pollock 1 



This fish came up fifteen or twenty minutes after the explosion. 



Experiment No. 9. 



Dynamite, No. of sticks 2 



Depth of water, in fathoms 30 



Depth of dynamite down .in water, fathoms Unknown. 



No. of fish killed pollock 2 



Experiment No. 10. 



Dynamite, No. of sticks 2 



Depth of water, in fathoms 30 



Depth of dynamite down in water, fathoms Unknown. 



No. of fish killed 0 



Experiment No. 11. 



Dynamite, No. of sticks 2 



Depth of water, in fathoms 30 



Depth of dynamite down in water, fathoms Unknown. 



No. of fish killed 0 



In 9 the two pollock came to the surface ten or twelve minutes after the explosion. 



Judging from our experience on the Vulcan, dynamite fishing cannot be made a 

 commercial success out on the open sea. A few cunner were generally killed, but hav- 

 ing no market value, were not counted in our results. We saw no young fish come to 

 the surface during the whole day. Nor could it be said in our experience that pollock 

 were frightened away. After the first day we were out on the bay, we heard that the 

 owners of the small fishing boats were protesting against our operations, as likely to 

 frighten away the fish from their usual haunts. But their fears were groundless, be- 

 cause two days afterwards the pollock were back again in greater numbers than be- 

 fore, and notwithstanding continued experiments on our part, the very best harvest of 

 the season was reaped after our experiments had been concluded. Eishing folk, like 

 other people, often cry before they are hurt. 



LOBSTER experiments. 



The young seaman already referred to, told a doleful tale of a poor lobster fisher- 

 man, who suffered a heavy loss through the explosion of a single stick of dynamite. 

 The fisherman hiad saved up his catches of lobster by confining them in a pound, in 

 inticipation of a rising market. The pound is a cubical box made of wooden slats, 

 ust close enough together to prevent the escape of the lobsters. The box is usually 

 anchored out a short distance from shore, and as the water enters freely through the 

 slats, the lobsters get enough aerated water to live on, if there are not too many of them, 

 and if there is enough of a breeze blowing to create a current in the water. The 

 young seaman's story is that when the lobster fisherman had accumulated about 500 

 animals in his pound, sotne mischievous or ignorant person put off a dynamite blast 

 about 150 or 200 yards away, and killed every lobster. As he first told the tale, the 

 lobster pound was 500 yards away, but on cross-examination he was compelled to re- 

 duce the distance. 



