6-7 EDWARD VII. 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 22a 



A. 1907 



THE EFFECTS OF DYNAMITE EXPLOSIONS ON FISH LIFE. 



A PRELIMINAKY KEPOET BY PEOFESSOK A. P. KNIGHT, M.A., M.D., 



QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY, KINGSTON, ONT. 



In issuing his announcement of the opening of the Dominion Biological Station 

 for the season of 1901, the director, Professor Prince, suggested that some experiments 

 should be undertaken ' on the wastefulness or otherwise of fishing with dynamite.' 

 It was subsequently arranged that this should be my work for the summer, and the 

 requisite permission to use dynamite having been obtained from the Ontario Fishery 

 Department, Toronto, and from the Department of Marine and Fisheries, at Ottawa, 

 experiments were begun the first week of July, 1901. 



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 



Before beginning this report, I must acknowledge indebtedness to E. Abbot John- 

 son, Esq., L'Orignal, Ont., for hospitality and assistance, in carrying out experiments 

 on the Ottawa river. Also, to my colleague, Dr. J. C. Connell, for the use of his launch 

 in carrying on the experiments in Kingston harbour, and similar indebtedness to the 

 Messrs. Whitman Bros., for extensive use of the tug ' Vulcan ' off Canso harbour. It 

 would have been impossible to carry out this investigation without the assistance 

 given by these gentlemen. 



DYNAMITE. 



The dynamite used was the variety known as dualin and has the following com- 

 position : — 



Nitroglycerine 40 parts. 



Fine sawdust or wood flour 30 " 



Potassium nitrate. 20 " 



It is usually sold in cylindrical sticks, or cartridges, of two sizes, one being six, 

 the other eight inches long, and about 1^ inches in diameter. The cartridges are en- 

 eased in oiled paper, and done up in five pound packages. Each package contains 6 

 small cartridges, and 14 large ones, and costs about $2; that is, a little over 8 cents 

 per cartridge for the small ones, and about 10 cents for the large. Fuse costs 75 

 cents per hundred feet, and caps or detonators about 75 cents per hundred. 



The dynamite used at Canso was that manufactured by the Acadia Powder Com- 

 pany, Halifax; that used on Lake Ontario was obtained gratis from the Ontario 

 Powder Company, at their head office, Kingston, and Mr. Smith, the general mrnager, 

 kindly instructed me how to use the explosive, and furnished me with a copy of the 

 pamphlet, which they send out to their customers. The following are extracts from 

 it, so far as they have a bearing upon my work : — 



21 



22a— 4 



