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I have the honour to submit for the information of His Ex- cellency. tlie enclosed " Notes on the Northern Labrador Fisheries ': oince the sketch Charts ilhistrating these Notes were sent to you in J3ertember last,I havehad the ^ortuni^y of seein' Ld :^!n^ ^'ommander Maxwell's Chart of Z Labr/dor f om\nd n ch 1 ay to Nam published during the past summer. This most valuable and timely addition to our knowledge of the Labrador Coast will serve to illustrate the accompanying Notes respectin" i^^^ J'lshc ,es.and form to a certain extent thi basis of future enquirv into the resources of these Northern Seas. ^ ^ .n.i / ""^ convinced that investigations extended over another season ad having the study of the Fisheries as far as Cape Mu-ford or S ^leat value to the commercial interests of Newfoundland, if pursued roultfT t'""''' '".^ '^'' "^"^^''^'^^ c^'^P^r-d with the^known r.i:io^,7XTlirK^^^^^^^^ '-'''' '' ''' ^"^^^^ «^'^^-> ^^" I have the honour to be. Your obedient servant, The Hon. F. 13. T. Carter, M.E.C, HENRY G. HIND. Attorney General. 'Ti|^r Th Nort for o Bay Crafi from foUIK and a as fai for a lluds Maxi chiefl certa: Her ] with know line, 1 impoj r J as fol ] of pre the in contir twent 3 them, Bummi shoals probal NOTES ON THI'J NORTHERN LABRADOR FISHING GROUNDS. iHE Fishing Grounds on tlio Atlantic ('oast of tlio Labrador, rs far North ns Sandwich Hay, have been occupied to a gref-ter or less extent, for one hundred and twenty years. Those extendin-,' from Saiidwicli Iky to <.;ape Harrison or Webeck, have also been visif.d by Fishin" Craft for a generation or more ; but north of Aillik, about 40 miles from Cape Harrison, the Coast has only been frequented by New- foundland cod-Hshing craft, during the lust fifteen years. A Quebec and a London House have possessed detached Salmon Fishing Stations ns far north as Ukkasiksalik or Freestone Point, (Lat. 5G. Long. GL) for about 30 years, but these have all passed into the hands of the Hudson Bay Company. Until the recent publication of Commander Maxwell's Surveys, our knowledge of the Labrador Coast has been chiefly derived from the Moravian Missionaries, and the surveys of certain harbours far removed from one another, by the officers of Her Majesty's vessels. A glance at Commander Maxwell's Charts, when compared with any document published previous to 187C, shows how little is known respecting the Geographical outlines of this extended coast line, which, from its amazing fish wealth, promises to becjine a very important commercial adjunct to Newfoundland. The leading characteristics of the coast north-west of Ail ik are as follows : — Ist. The shore line is deeply serrated by a constant succession of profound and narrow fiords stretching from 30 to 50 miles into the interior. 2nd, It is fringed with a vast multitude of Islands, forming a continuous archipelago from Cape Aillik to Cape Mugford, avera-in" twenty miles in depth, from the mouth of the fiords seawards. '^ " 3rd. Outside of the Islands and about 15 miles seawards from them, are numerous banks and shoals, which form the great autumnal summer and spring feeding grounds of the cod, while outside of the shoals, there appears to be a second range or banks, which aro probably their winter feeding-grounds. 4 4tli. Tho isliiml-stuilJo.l area forms nn immense cod-fishing ..-ouiul, which covers between Ciipo Ilnrrison (Webeck) and (^ipo Mii,i,^f()nl, ii boat fishing-ground exclusive of tho shonls and banks outside, nearly as large as the combined area of the English and iMonch boat fishing-ground (m the coast of Newfoundland. For the sake of disiinction 1 have styled the area under review, "'I'ho Northern l>abrador Fishing Grounds," beginning at Cape Harrison (Webeck) and, for the present at least, terminating at Cape Mugford, AREA OF THE NORTHERN LABRADOR BOAT FISHERY. 'J'he following table shows approximately tho area of tho boa(, fishing.grounds about the Island of Ncwf(nindland, and tlie Northern and Southern Divisions of the Labrador. From this tr.blc it will bo f.een that the area of the Northern Labrador fiahing-grounds alone, exclusive of the I5anks, amounts to about five sixths of the entire area of the British and French boat fishery on the coast of Newfoundland. The area of the inner range of banks cannot be even approximately stated : Com])arative Table of Newfoundland and Labrador Fishing Ground Areas. Area of Fisbioj? Ground Northern Tmbrador Boat Fishery—Cape Har- ^''°' ^^' *'•'**'■ rison to Cape Mugford, 2G0 miles averaging 20 miles deep 5200 Nkwfouxdland Boat Fishery — French Shore— Cape St. John via Cape Bauld to Cape Ray, GOG miles, by three miles deep — Shore Boat Fishery 2088 South Shore of Newfoundland Boat Fishery — Cape Ray to Cape Race, 573 miles, 3 miles deep — Shore Fishery 1719 East Shore of Newfoundland Boat Fishery — Cape Wace to Cape Bonavista, 2iH miles, 3 miles deep — Shore Fishery 8S2 North East Shore of Newt'oundland Boat Fishery — Cape Bonavista to Cape St. John, 22G miles, 3 miles deep — Shore Fishery 075 North East Shore of Newfoundland Boat Fishery — among isl^,nds in B )n ivista Bay and Bay of Notre Dame, 120 mile>i, 7 r;>iles deep 810 cncl-fisliins: ) and Cii|)o and banks, igliah and I. lev review, ,' at Cape ig at Gape [SllERY. the boaf, Nortliern it will bo ds alono, ntiie area )undland. )xiraately J Ground biogOrouDd. |, M'.!e3. 200 388 19 82 7-3 iO 7ab!e of Comparative Areas Cunthnied. Sq. Milefl. Area of British Newfoundland lJ)it Fishery... 4) lo Area of French NewfounJlaud Boat Fishery... 20S8 Total area of Newfoundhiud Boat Fishery...... G20-t Area of Northern Labrador Boat Fishery— Oape Harrison to Caj)e Mugford 52OO Area of Southera Labrador IJoat Fishery- Cape Harrison to ISlanc Sabhni, estin ated five mile* '^''^' 1900 Total area of Labrador Boat Fishery TiOO rHYSK^AL OUTLINES OF TIJE COAST. Qf -^^ r » ^;°';^»y so on the Labrador, the whole coast from the Straus of Belle Isle to IJobron is deeply cut by profound Fio« I*euetruting the land from 30 to 70 raileg! These Fiords have bae inapped as ar as Hamilton Inlet by the officers of Her Maiestv-s vesse s, but bt-youd that point no surveys have been made and pub- juslitd, with the exception of those bafore uientioned. As an ilhis. trution of one of the unsurveyed Fiords, I append a sketch plan mule his summer of Kypokok Bay, the next liay north of Ai^lik ic IS ntcy,three miles deep, and has an average breadth of three miles Opposite the Hudson Bay Co.'« Post, 35 ui!es from A.llik Head, the I^oTs'^TirHl"" '1?^ ff T '^-P.-l^-^gh not above a mil: across Ihis Bay or Inord has been excavated by glaciers, like all the other tiords on this coast, : -i the innumerable Islands off the coast are rocky eminences whi-) nave escaped the geneial facial denudation. But the glaciers of Labrador have probably left even wore v'aluable recoixls in the form of moraines, of their early existence liere, than deep fiords or innumerable islands. These are the shoals or banks which lie some fifteen miles outside of the Islands and on which ice- bergs strand in long lines and in groups. I hive styled them the Inner Range of Banks, to distinguish them from a supposed Outer Range in deeper water, and where larger icevber-a also sometimes take the ground. The inner banks as far as they ft?e Known, are stated by fishermen to have Irora twenty to forty fathoms ol water on them. '' 6 AUSENCEOF ISLANDS ON THE SOUTIIKHN I.AIJKADOIl. The Adiuiijilt^' Clinit poitinys a vory inipoiljint confirinutidn of the T.iibiailor Cdiist line fV'iiii 8t. l-cuis S:)U'ii(l to Spotted Ulimd. Tlie trend betnccn tlio Bulllc; Islands, South of St. Lewis Sound, und the Spotted Ibliind, (Domino l{un)a distnnce of 'Go miles, is duo North, nnd with very few cxcP4)ti<)ns, there are no Islunds off tho Coast throughout this disfanco, but as soon as the Coast Lino begins to turn North-west, Islands are numcuus and continually increaM) in number as far as <^'ape Mujiford, nnd even towiirds Ciipe Cinidleigh. l?etween Cape llanison and C.ipe Mugford the Ishnul iigaiii may be estimated as being a depth of twenty miles fiom the nu uth of the Liords soawfinl:^. The cause of the genera! absence of Ishmds South (jf Si)ottcd Island, can probably be tniced to the never censing acdon ( f Northern ice, (Iriven on the Coast Line wheio it suddenly makes its Southerly bend, by the intluei:ee of the i(;lation of the earth up( n the Arctic Cuiient. This current sweeps past the Ixibrador wiih a sp.eed of from J A to 2 knots an hourj ntid a Westerly pressure, duo to the earth's rotation, eslimatid at about eleven inches, 'I hat is to sfiy, the mean le\el of the sea on the Coast of Labrador is about eleven inches abo\e the level it would assume if uninfluenced by ihu eaith's rotatit n. As soon as the iceladened current renohes tho Spc tted Island it is in part relieved from this pressure ly the tre.'.d ( f the Coast from South-east to due South, hence the cunent changes its course Southeily nud on to the land. lUit the effect of this sud- 'Jen change in this direction of the current near the shore is to throw the ice-beigs on to the coast from Spotted Island to Cajie St. Lewis, where they may be seen stiandcd each year in great numbers. Tho Islands which doubtless once existed here, have been removed by (onstant abraision acting uninterru[)tcdly for !5ges, and with the Iss lands the moraines lying seawards. "NVe may thus trace the cause of tho vast difference between the distribution of stranded ice-ber<;3 south of Spotted Island nnd north west of it. In one case they aro htianded (u and nenr the coast line, wearing it away and tleeiening the water near it, assisted by the undertow ; in the other case they iue btuiuded some fifteen miles from tlie Ishvnd fringe, and continue ally adding to the L'anks the debris they may bring, in the form of mud si leaks, from the glaciers ^vhich gave them birth in the far north and norih east. Jt is more than probable that this distribution cf ice-bcrgs has a very imp'Jittmt ber.ringupon the food and feeding •S |{.\1K)U. niifidii of I Ubind. H SoUUll, ?S, is (IlKJ s off' llio 10 begins iiicrcii>o niillL'i<;Ii. II may bo h (if tho tis .South ){,' acfion y iTiakcs rth \i\H n lor uiili ;ure, duo hat is to IS about (I by Jlio ihc3 iho e trci.d tliani,us his sud- to throw , l.ewif, s. Tlio )ved by the Is^ 10 cause :'e-ber^s hoy are (.'1 t'nin}j[ ISO tlicy oiitinu- 01 m of the far ibution feeding prnunda of the cm], uhi,I, j„,,ifieg ,„e in loforring hero with so much dotiul It) the nction of glacial icp. nCLATION OF Tilt: CODFISH TO STIiANDKl) ICF-IJKUiJS'. Upon nimt forms of lifo do the cod food m tho Noitiioiu I,al). rridor coast, wImmo tiu! summers are so short, tho caplin. the lierriu" tbo squid and oven lainwo comparatively scarce, and whero ico ber-^s continually abound I The an.w.T may bo expressed in one word^"'- (Tustaceaus. Theso are lulinito in number, from tho miiiule se , . lice of tho hshermen to a hu-o crustacoau rcsomblinu' a pra'.vn ■ crabs, too, are very numerous, as well as ui' Husks. Althou-h t'l- caplin ceases to appoar on tho coast in hn«o schools ab.'^o tb . Jatitudo of Nam, the herrinits th'> Northern corsf-' m -reat numbers, yet crabs, pnnvu-aml " lien iii^r bail " witli medusJ (.ccur in vast numbers and form will, mollusks the chief food uf th,. cod, iho(diuers m chai-e of tho IIulsou May Co.'.s Post at Vk- k-isiksalik mtormed mo that at tho moro Northern Hudson iiav 1 osts, if seals were left in tho fall of tho year for a sin-lo ni-ht iii the nets, tho head was sure to bo cleaned to the bono' by puwn- He also stated that in tho Nortliern waters opposite Jlebuon Lamn" son and Nachwack, tlie cod feed on a small fish bearin- a -ivat lescmblauce to the ordinary fommy-co,l, but that crustaceaus woi ' Iheir chief ioou. '1 ho connectir,n existing between ice and Iho food 143 days, Over Four Degrees of Latitude. SOUTH KRX LABRADOR. S2.0 Chateau Bay Batteaux 54.30 Indian Harboar 20th June 12th 15th iSth « 5 4. 5 4! Cape liarrisou Over Three Degrees of Latitude. NORTIIKRN LABRADOR. Aillik Kypokok llopetlfito Double Island Harbour Ukkaeikoalik Nain 57.S0,Okuk Hebron Lampson 66.9 55.12 55.27 53.30 50 50.30 58.30 58.40 20th July 20th 20th f22th 28th 28th 28th 15th Aug. 25th Sept 15lh )■ 52 days. Over Ihree and a Half Degrees of Latitude. Ii' «\ 11 , mean date d in North )r. mn lengih if fishing season. L43 days. Prom this lable, imperfect as it is. we may deduce the folIowinL' Jaw : -Over an area extending northerly from Conception Bay for seven hundred miles, the cod approach the shore about one week later for every degree of latitude wc advance to the liortli." These Tables show also that for a period of about forty days Uie cod-fishery f,^oes on simultaneously during Aug'ust and September thro^Mghout the length of a coast line extending from latitude 47" to lat. 58, 30, or more than seven hr.ndred statute miles in one contin- uous line. Hence it appears that the migrations of the schools of this fish are merely from deep water winter feeding grounds to the nearest coast spawning grounds, ar.d from the coast to the nearest deep water feeding grounds again.* The coast migration? durin" the summer months appear to be of equally limited extent, and schools of cod frequenting any .particular coast, may be said to be indigenous 'to It. ° 7 days. On l.e Labrador, especially in well-known deep Bays, such as Hamilton In et, the coast movements of the fish appear to be very regular and determined to a large degree by the tidal currents. Tlie Caplin generally precede the Cod by a few davs, and these fish are known to approach the coast and enter the snndy coves for the purs pose 0 spawning. The same law which guides the movements of tne cod afferts also tlie periods of spawning of the caplin. I saw numerous schools of fish spawning in Trinity Bay on the 27th June a month later they sp-iwn in Kypokok Bay, and still later further to' 2 days. I'EESENT STATUS OF THE NORTHERN LABRADOR FISHERY. About four hundred fishing craft, from eighteen to ninety tons burden, are supposed to have passed Cape Harrison this season. Jaking the average of the entire fleet, they carried each eight men' three fishing boats and one shore boat. Out of the 3'^00 hands ^vo ^ay assume that 2400 were actually engaged in fishing. The ^s ti- mated catch was CO qiuntals per man^ or m the aggregate 144,00u *Thi8 law regulating movenjeuts of several species of fish has Ibfiffsinrn been recognized in other countries. ^ ""*^° / 12 quintals. This work was accomplished in an average aggregate of iweniy-four fishing days, and to a large extent with the jigger,* that is, without the use of bait. Allowing 130 fish to the quintal the number taken would be about eighteen millions, the number wounded and lost about four and a half millions, although some fishermen consider that one fish out of three is wounded by the jigger and lost, when the fish are very numerous. During the gale of the 11th and 12th Scpterabt>r there lay next to us in Indian Harbour off llamilcon Inlet, a small craft of 3U tons burden, just arrived from off Nain. She had been fisliiug about the Islands near the Missionary Station in lat. 5G. 40, about GOO miles north west of St: John's, and in three weeks had taken three hundred quintals. Her complement consisted ot six men and two fishing boats. She arrived, like all the fisliing fleet this year, too late to take advantage oJ the season. The cod Imd '* struck in " many days before she commenced fishing. Had she arrived a fortnight earlier, she might easily have taken 80 quintals to the man in place of uO, but she had used all her salt, and the crew were satisfied with the result. Her fishing days were eighteen in number, excluding Sun- days, which are always observed by fishermen on this coast. Another craft, also lying alongside and hailing from Notre Uame Bay, was of sixtv tons burden, her complement, 12 men and 4 boats. She reached the' Islands off Hopedale (Lat. 55. 27) on the 22nd July, fished for six weeks and took 700 quintals of tish or about GO quintals per man. She takes her green fish direct to Notre Damo IJay to make tliere. No fish are made or cured on this shore, as yet, north of Long Island Tickle, some twenty-five miles north-west of Cape Harrison. Hitherto on the Northern Labrador Coast, the jigger, as already stated, has been almost exclusively used ; it is only lately that launce have been tried as bait, and with marked success. But it is well known that only the smaller sized cod come into shallow water, the larger fish remaining to feed and spawn on the banks outside and in deeper water. Very few attempts have been made to fish on the * Bait was used in Stag Bay, but ncrth of Aillik almoit all the fish were taken with the jigger. The launce is stated to have been used to a small extent, as well as importbd bait. I\\ I 13 liabrador Banks, but when tried, 1 have been assurccl by trustworthy persons, that large fish have always been taken with bait. Larger boats than those used about the Islands are required for this kind of fishing ; indeed a totally different organization and equipment will be necessary for the Northern Labrador Bank Fislu'iy, which appears destined to become, under proper encouragement and management, the fishery 'of the future. THE CLIMATE. Experience, now extended over twelve years, shows that the seasons are sufficiently kte and long, to permit Newfoundland fisher- rtien to come from their homes after their spring fishing is over there, and their garden work attended to. They may arrive on the North- ern Labrador Fishing Grounds from the tenth to the twentieth of July, or even later if they go north beyond Nain. They may return in general by the tenth to the twentieth of September, to Southern Labrador rooms, or even to their homes, with full fares of green fish. The extremities of many of the deep Fiords from Gape Harrison to Ukkasiksalik or Freestone Point, a distance in ein air line of 1 20 miles, contain timber fit for spars, for the construction of " fore»and> afters" and for all ordinary building purposes. The climate there, namely, at the bottom of many of these deep Fiords, permits of the cultivation of potatoes and other garden vegetables. Between Aiilik and Ukkasiksalik, there are at present about sixty resident settlers in the deep Fiords, most of whom have been in the service of the Hudson Bay Co. or the fishing firms already named, and some of them are married to Eskimo women. There are several other points of great interest in regard to tlie Northern Labrador which are worthy of notice, but the details would swell this paper to dimensions far exceeding those of a brief descriptive outline sketch of a comparatively new field for that kind of enterprise and industry in which Newfoundland is so distinguish- ed, and from which she annually derives so much wealth. ^ h .?! 12 The expansion and preservation of her fishing grounds for the use of her own people appears to chiim, however, thoughtful and liberal considerations, not only from those who may profit by it, but Irom those also, who may be able to assist in lessening the difficultiea with which it is beset, in ameliorating the hardships, inseperable from its pursuit, and in aiding in developing the resources of the vast aiea it may yet be made to occupy. HENEY G. HIKD. St. John's, November 8lh, 187G. / ) \*k