drift off drawing the mackerel after them. They sometimes spoil a a boat's summer's work. 15. Their cod-fishermen do harm to the fishing by throwing overboard the offal to the codfish. We know well enough when we see the American fleet coming that there is an end to our good fishing. The fishermen here look upon the arrival of the Americans as a serious injury and damage to the island fishing. 16. That there is, on an average, three hundred sail of American vessels every year engaged in herring fishing at the Magdalen Islands; they seine the fish, and take, on an average, about one thousand barrels each vessel. The herring fishing there is right inshore. I were herring fishing at the Magdalen Islands three years, and each year there were about three hundred sail of Americans there fishing. They send some home and more they ship away to foreign markets. That herring fishery is a very important trade to them. 17. That the right of transshipment is a very great advantage to the Americans, in two ways: they can ship their fish in time to catch good markets, which is very important to them, as the mackerel market is a very fluctuating one; they also save ten days clear fishing, right in the heart of the fishing season, that is clear of the three days they would take to unload and refit her. In good years that would amount to another trip in the course of the summer. The fish are also better and command higher prices by being sent up quickly; if kept in the vessels till they get to market, they are not nearly so good nor worth so much. JOHN CHAMPION. Sworn to at Alberton, in Prince County, Prince Edward Island, this 30th day of June, A. D. 1877, before me. JOSEPH MACGILVRAY, No. 11. I, SEBASTIAN DAVIDSON, of Tignish, in Prince County, in Prince Edward Island, accountant, make oath and say: 1. I have been connected with the fishing business as accountant and bookkeeper in different establishments for over twenty years in this part of the country. The business, so far as I have been engaged in it, has always been with boats. 2. There are a hundred boats fishing from Kildare to the North Cape of this island. The number of boats, I should say, has doubled in the last ten years. The quality of the boats has very much improved; they are fitted out better, have every requisite for fishing, and are better sailers than formerly; they can now stay out, instead of being obliged to return to shore every evening. 3. The American fleet is not now so numerous as it was a few years ago. A few years ago, before the Reciprocity Treaty was done away with, I should say it numbered from three to four hundred sail. I have seen them as thick as bees all along the shore. They used to fish all along this shore, up Bay Chaleur, at the Magdalen Islands, at Port Hood and other places, within three miles of the shore along here. 4. The herring fishery is important for bait about here; it was a failure here this year except in traps. 5. The right of transshipment is a great advantage to the Americans, inasmuch as they can land their first, refit, and be on the grounds again without much loss of time. They are also enabled by virtue of this right to take advantage of the fluctuations of the markets, and can even sell their fish "to arrive." Under ordinary circumstances, I should say that the right of landing their fish, instead of taking them to the States in their own vessels, would be a saving of a fortnight each trip. They used to make two trips a summer. SEBN. DAVIDSON. Sworn to at Tignish, in Prince County, in Prince Edward Island, this 27th day of June, A. D. 1877, before me. JOSEPH MACGILVRAY, No. 12. I, WILLIAM CHAMPION, of Cascumpec, in Prince County, Prince Edward Island, fisherman and fish-dealer, make oath and say: 1. I have been engaged in fishing for over ten years in both boats and schooners, one summer of which time I fished on board the American schooner Banner, of Belfast, Me. 2. There are fifty boats, I should say, fishing out of this harbor (Cascumpec) at the present time. The number has trebled in the last ten years. But Kildare, Tiguish, Mimnigash, Nail Pond, and that way generally, the number has increased at a greater rate than here. The boats themselves are also very much better than they were some years ago. The number is still increasing; has increased ten boats this spring in this harbor alone. 3. The average catch of mackerel for each boat is about seventy-five barrels, and about fifty quintals of codfish, and the same of hake. 4. Each boat carries on an average a crew of four men. 5. The boats fish along the shores, mainly within three miles of the shore. There are about nine-tenths of the mackerel caught by the boats caught within three miles of the shore; the best ground is within that distance. About two-thirds of the codfish and half the hake caught in boats are caught within three miles of the shore; in fact, the best ground for the two last-mentioned fish is about three miles out or thereabouts. Down eastward on this island, and about Port Hood, Antigonish, Cape George, and other places in that direction, the boats, and also the American schooners, fish close iushore. 6. I fished two summers in an island schooner, and one in the American Banner; the Banner was about eighty tons burden; I was fishing in her the year the cutters were around for four months; we had a license to fish, so the cutters did not disturb us. She carried a crew of sixteen hands; we caught four hundred barrel of mackerel, of which we transshipped three hundred at Charlottetown; we were only three days out of the bay landing and transshipping the fish, and saved more than a fortnight in time. 7. The year I was in the Banner she and other American vessels used often to drift down on the boats, and used often to "lee-bow" them, thowing out bait, and taking the fish away; there were about four hundred Americans fishing that year; we fished right up in the Bay Chaleur and around the other shores of the provinces; there were also a great many seiners out that year. 8. The average number of the American fleet each year is between four and five hundred. They catch on an average between five and six hundred barrels of mackerel each; the Americans fish as a rule near the shores; I do not think it would be worth their while to come down to fish unless allowed to fish within three miles of the shore; the fishermen and captains say they would not come down if kept away from the shore fishing; our captain insisted on getting a license before he would fish, and he and the crew paid for it; if there were enough cutters about, the Americans would keep away; ten or twenty small vessels fitted out as cutters would keep them off; schooners would be best for cutters. 9. By fishing near the shore the Americans do a great deal of harm to the mackerel, they chuck out so much bait. They have the very best of bait, and can carry the mackerel off shore with them, as the mackerel follow the bait. They "lee-bow" the boats and prevent their catching fish. The Americans often get right in among the boats fishing and spoil their chances of a catch. 10. Fishermen in boats look upon the arrival of the American fleet as the ruin of the good fishing, and I know it to be the fact. Their coming is thus a very great loss and injury to boat fishermen. The boats lie at anchor and the schooners drift down upon them, when the former have to get out of the way. 11. The mackerel fishing begins as a rule about the twenty-fifth of June and lasts till about the end of October. 12. The right of transshipment is a very great advantage to the Americans. They are thus enabled to take advantage of the markets. When we transshipped the three hundred barrels at Charlottetown we got twenty-four dollars and fifty cents American currency a barrel for them; had we been obliged to take them down ourselves we would have got to the market more than a week later with the fish than they arrived by transshipment, and then the price would have been seventeen dollars American money a barrel, so that by the transshipment of those three hundred barrels we saved exactly two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars American money, or seven dollars and a half a barrel, besides being able to remain on the fishing grounds. There were a num. ber of other Americans at the same time who transshipped at the same time and gained in the same way. The right of transshipment also enables them to refit and save a great deal of time during the fishing season. 13. The mackerel come in here in the beginning of the season from the southward and eastward, and work northwardly and westwardly till about the middle of August, and then work back, striking this island both ways. The Americans know all about this and follow the fish. They know the course of the fish so well that they occasionally lay in wait to meet the schools of mackerel. I have known them go into Georgetown and wait in this way. 14. The Americans seine the fish and do a great deal of harm. I have known them off the Nail Pond shore, while seining for mackerel, strike upon a school of herring and take about five hundred barrels, which they threw away and the herring were destroyed. WILLIAM CHAMPION. Sworn to at Alberton, in Prince County, Prince Edward Island, this 26th day of June, A. D. 1877, before me. JOSEPH MACGILVRAY, Justice of the Peace for Prince County, Prince Edward Island. No. 13. DOMINION OF CANADA, Province of Prince Edward Island, Kings County, to wit: I, JAMES MCDONALD, of East Point, in Kings County, in Prince Edward Island, mariner and fisherman, make oath and say: 1. That I have been personally engaged in the mackerel and cod fishing since the year 1848, and since the year 1854 I have been master of a fishing vessel. From the year 1848 to 1853 I was fishing in American vessels. I commenced the mackerel fishing in 1850. At that time the number of American vessels engaged in the mackerel fishery would be about 500 sail, and that year their average catch would be 600 barrels per vessel, of which fully nine-tenths would be caught inshore, within the three-mile limit. 2. From the year 1853 to 1860 I was fishing in British vessels. During that time there would be an average of 450 American vessels in the gulf engaged in the mackerel fishery. 3. That since the year 1860 I have still been engaged in the mackerel fishing. That the average number of American vessels during the fourteen or fifteen years next succeeding the year 1860, in the gulf, engaged in the mackerel fishery, has been 400. The average catch of these vessels during that time would be about 500 barrels per vessel. And I have no hesitation in saying that nine-tenths of all the mackerel caught within the last fifteen or seventeen years has been caught within the three-mile limits. 4. That when the mackerel arrive at the gulf they first strike the Magdalens, but there are none caught till they reach the Bay Chaleur and Seven Islands, where the first fare of the season is generally obtained. They then cross over to North Cape and along the north side of the island, keeping inshore. 5. That in the latter part of the season, from the middle of September to the first part of November, the weather will not permit of fishing any distance from the shore, being too rough; and during that part of the season not one barrel in 5,000 is caught outside the limits. 6. That during the last two or three years the number of American vessels fishing in the gulf has fallen away considerably, owing partly to the mackerel not frequenting our coasts during these years in such large quantities as in former years, but this year the prospects are good. 7. That the right to transship is of great advantage to the Americans, as they thereby save time, and gives them an extra trip which they would not otherwise have. 8. That the large amount of offal thrown overboard by the Americaus poisons the mackerel, and is an injury to the fishing ground. 9. That when we saw boats fishing near the shore we made a practice of sailing down on them, and with our good bait took all the mackerel, and the boats would have to give up till the mackerel came back again. The vessels coming in among the boats are also likely to scatter the mackerel, and the boats not being able to follow them any distance, lose them altogether. 10. That the Canadian and British cutters and men-of-war did not prevent the Americans from fishing within the limits, for when they saw one of them coming they stood out to sea till she passed, and then resumed their fishing operations within the limits again. 11. From an experience of nearly thirty years spent in mackerel fishing I would say that the best mackerel fishing ground is close inshore, say from one-half a mile to two and one-half miles from the shore, off the north side of the island, and that if the Americans could be prevented from fishing within the three-mile limit they would not frequent our shores at all for the purpose of fishing. During the last six or seven years the mackerel have kept more inshore than in former years. In fact, during the last few years, scarcely a mackerel would be caught outside the three-mile limit. 12. There is also a large fleet of American vessels engaged in the herring fishery off the Magdalens, Labrador, and Newfoundland; I should say about two hundred and fifty sails. These vessels are gener ally of a larger class than those engaged in the mackerel fishery, some of them carrying as many as three thousand barrels. From my experience and personal knowledge I would estimate that the Americans catch and take from these shores 150,000 barrels of herring annually, all of which are caught close up to the shore and well within the three mile limit. They also buy large quantities of herring from the shore-fishermen in Newfoundland, but these are not included in the above estimate. JAMES MCDONALD. Sworn to at Souris, in Kings County, in Prince Edward Island, this 26th day of June, A. D. 1877, before me. I, JAMES H. DAVIDSON, of Tignish, in Prince County, Prince Edward Island, fish-dealer, make oath and say: 1. I have been for the last seven years running a fishing stage at the North Cape, and have been engaged in fishing all my life, as a practical fisherman, in boats all the time except one year, when I was on board the schooner Frank of this island. 2. That I believe there are fully two hundred boats fishing between Cascumpec Harbor and North Cape. During the last seven years the number of boats engaged in fishing has certainly trebled. The boats are better models, better rigged, better equipped, are better sailers, and are superior in every respect to what they used to be. During the last ten years the capital invested in the boat-fishing business along this coast has multiplied tenfold, and that is a moderate statement. 3. The boats will average three men to a boat, all round, for crew, and one man on shore, so that the two hundred boats would give, during the summer, constant employment to eight hundred men, and the num ber of boats is constantly increasing. I believe that the fishing in this part of the island is still in its infancy. 4. I should put the average catch of mackerel per boat, taking one year with another for the last ten years, at seventy-five barrels, and the average catch of codfish and hake at fifty quintals. The boats nearly always catch as many herring as they require. They get abundance for mackerel bait, for home use, and some to export. The boats would require, on an average, fifteen barrels of herring for bait, each boat, during the mackerel season. 5. Seven-eighths of the boat-fishing is done within three miles of the shore. All the mackerel and herring are caught within that limit, the codfish sometimes further out. 6. The reason for the increase of the number of boats is that people find it a profitable business, and the young men are going into it more and more. There is a special class growing up now, who are entirely devoted to and altogether dependent on fishing. Those men who devote |