26 



MARINE AND FISHERIES 



6-7 EDWARD VII., A. 1907 



WOULD IT PAY. 



An attempt was made to see whether a large catch of fish could be obtained in the 

 open sea by means of dynamite. The fishermen at Grand Manan were said to have 

 made it pay during the summer of 1900, and better still in 1901. At any rate, a young 

 seaman whose acquaintance I made through Mr. C. H. Whitman at Canso, claimed 

 to have used dynamite at Grand Manan during June and most of July, 1901. He 

 said that ' whereas only half a dozen vessels had used dynamite in 1900, there were 

 about 90 using it in 1901. It was exceedingly effective with pollock, when they were 

 plentiful and following the red shrimp. They used only one stick of dynamite and 

 exploded it by a detonator and fuse two or three inches long. The men lighted the 

 short fuse with a match or the burning tobacco of their pipes, and then threw the 

 cartridge into the sea from the boat. They judged that the explosion took place about 

 six feet below the surface, but could not say exactly to what depth the cartridge sank 

 before exploding. Hundreds of pollock were killed by one explosion. He was of the 

 opinion that from one-half to one-third of the fish sank and were lost. Other fish 

 were killed besides the pollock. When the shrimps are all eaten up or disappear, tbe 

 pollock begin feeding upon herring and squid, and consequently separate widely from 

 each other. Under these circumstances, it was not found profitable round Grand 

 Manan to continue the practice — too few being killed to pay for the dynamite and the 

 men's time in collecting the scattered fish. Asked upon what grounds he had formed 

 the opinion that from one-half to one-third sank, he answered that he had come to that 

 conclusion on two grounds : first, by watching the fish sinking after an explosion ; and 

 secondly, because on one occasion at Digby inlet he had seen a blast put off beside 

 the wharf in order to kill pollock. After the tide went out they counted as many 

 dead fish on the bottom as they had collected at the surface.' 



Such was the substance of the man's story. It remained for us to see how far 

 our experience would confirm his. At the outset, let it be said that although there 

 were six men on board the Vulcan, two being experienced fishermen, and all watching 

 eagerly for results, it was generally agreed that it was impossible (by merely watching 

 the surface) to form an opinion as to the number of fish that sank, as compared with 

 the number which floated. We all saw one or two fish sink after some of the ex- 

 plosions, but not one of us from our own observations could confirm the young fisher- 

 man's opinion that one-half or one-third sank. 



Our experience in St. John harbour compared with his in Digby inlet, showed 

 that three times as many lay dead on the bottom, but they were not pollock. 



As regards our experiments in the open sea, the following were typical: — 



Experiment No. 1. 



Dynamite, No. of sticks 2 



Depth of water, in fathoms 7 



Depth of dynamite down in water, fathoms 2 



No. of fish killed pollock 20 



One or two fish were observed to sink and not come to the surface again. 



Experiment No. 2. 



Dynamite, No. of sticks 



Depth of water, in fathoms . 



Depth of dynamite down in water, fathoms 

 No. of fish killed 



cod 



4 

 7 

 2 

 2 



