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Part III. —Eleventh Annual Report 



Dawson — interesting information is given concerning the capture of im- 

 mature fish, which he finds to vary in abundance on the same grounds at 

 different times of the year. Thus, in August, two drags of the shrinip- 

 trawl in a certain part of the Mersey estuary, occupying altogether 3J 

 hours, produced 12,308 immature food fishes and 12 quarts of shrimps; 

 while in November and December, five drags on the same ground, occupy- 

 ing in all 4J hours, produced only 2067 immature food fishes, but captured 

 58| quarts of shrimps. It is also stated that complaints are very general 

 as to the harm done to the fisheries, especially on the cockle beds, by sea- 

 birds, which appear to be rapidly increasing in numbers. 



CANADA. 



The total yield of the fisheries of the Dominion of Canada* in 1891 

 represented a value of 18,977,878 dollars (Nova Scotia alone being credited 

 with 7,011,300 dollars), showing an increase of a million and a quarter of 

 dollars over 1890. The values of the chief kinds of fish captured were — 

 cod, 3,827,708 dollars: herrings, 2,294,914 dollars; salmon, 2,256,248 

 dollars; lobsters, 2,252,421 dollars; mackerel, 1,969,571 dollars. Seal- 

 skins, which are included, were valued at 826,083 dollars. In regard to 

 the fishermen and boats, it appears. that 65,909 men, 30,438 boats, valued 

 at 1,007,815 dollars, and 1027 vessels, valued at 2,125,355 dollars, and 

 having a tonnage of 39,377 tons, were employed in the fisheries. 

 5,014,079 fathoms of gill-nets and seines, valued at 1,644,892 dollars, 

 were made use of, and the gross value of the vessels, boats, and fishing 

 gear was 7,376,186 dollars. In the voluminous reports from the various 

 districts will be found many matters of interest. In Nova Scotia successful 

 experiments have been made in freezing bait (squid) in refrigerators, and 

 for the first time in the history of the fishery, fresh bait could be obtained 

 in January. The fishermen started for the fishing grounds with a thin 

 cake of ice, containing enough squid bait for one day's cod fishing, and 

 the results have been very satisfactory. In one day 33,000 lbs. of cod 

 and haddock were landed at Canso, and two men, in one boat, took 30 

 dollars' worth of fish in one day with the frozen bait. 



In the report of Mr Samuel Wilmot, the superintendent of fish culture, 

 it is stated that thirteen fish hatcheries, equipped with the most approved 

 apparatus, are in operation, and that another will shortly be constructed 

 in Manitoba. The lobster hatchery at Bay View, Pictou, is 75 feet long 

 by 35 feet broad, with apparatus to accommodate about 90.000,000 eggs ; 

 it is provided with a 20-horse-power steam-boiler and duplex pump, and 

 lias also a wharf or pier in connection with it. Owing to the delay in 

 getting the building and machinery into operation, hatching work was 

 carried on for only fifteen days last season. No difficulties of moment 

 ■were found in the actual hatching of the eggs or in planting the fry, but 

 there appears to have been a difficulty in obtaining adequate supplies of 

 the lobster eggs in good condition from the factories, where the lobsters 

 are canned. From this circumstance, only 7,000,000 young fry were 

 hatched and distributed. At the other hatcheries, 115,771,800 young 

 fish were hatched and distributed, including 73,605,000 white fish of the 

 Great Lakes, 15,000,000 pickerel, 9,990,0u0 salmon trout, and 6,133,000 

 of the Atlantic salmon (S. salar). Since the hatcheries were established 

 in 1868, 911,529,700 fry have been hatched and planted, chiefly salmon, 

 white fish, and pickerel. 



Fisheries Statements and Inspectors' Reports for the Year 1891. Ottawa, 1892. 



