0

THE

ONTARIO

COMMERCIAL

FISHERIES

HOW AND WHY
DESTROYED

A PAMPHLET

BY

EDWARD HARRIS

The EDITH and LORNE PIERCE
COLLECTION of CANADI ANA

Queen's University at Kingston

The Ontario Commercial Fisheries

HOW AND WHY DESTROYED

I.

In one of those old English country churches the congre-
gation had become so reduced as to be almost a scandal.
Some of the ladies persuaded the rector to allow them to
decorate the church at Christmas time to make it attractive
and draw in the wavering worshippers. This was done elab-
orately with evergreens, holly, mistletoe and flowers. It all
failed to fill another seat. Wnen the rector went into the
pulpit he looked around the church, gave a sigh, and said:
" My dear brethren, there is a great deal of cover, but very
little game."

That is very much the condition of the forests and fields,
streams and lakes in Ontario. Laws, regulations, water and
cover we have in plenty, but very little fish and game.

A mental effort is required to dissect *the fishery reports.
Probably not one man in a hundred thousand attempts it. In
1903 " juggling with the figures " began. The catch of fish
in that year was valued at $1,535,144. This catch, had it
been valued according to precedent, would be $1,200,362.
An apparent surplus of $334,782 was created.

Misleading Figures.

To the ordinary reader (and in commercial fishing mat-
ters almost the entire community are " ordinary ") this would
have the appearance of an increased catch and a prosperous
year. But more than $300,000 had been added to values, in
the same way that an American life insurance company man-
ufactures a reserve. This system has been continued. The

catch of fish in 1905 is valued upon the same misleading plan
at $1,705,963, an excess of nearly $500,000 over "old prices."
The Ottawa Government, up to A.D. 1898, while managing
these fisheries, had adhered strictly to uniform valuation of
the catch as one safe guide to detect depletion or show
increase.

A Tremendous Decrease.

The facts are that since the " Ontario blight " struck the
fisheries in 1899, there has been a decrease in the yearly catch
of nearly 5,000,000 lbs. It is the depletion of the waters, and
the consequent greater expense in catching fish, which has
compelled a rise in prices. More plant, more tugs, boats and
nets are now required to take even a lesser quantity of fish.
During the management of the late Ontario Government,
steam tugs increased from 83 tugs and 430 men to 127 tugs
and 714 men, and those, tugs of greater tonnage and fishing
capacity; 1,262 boats and 2,417 men were increased to 1,462
boats and 3,247 men, and gill nets increased 300,000 yards.
Seines were increased 50 per cent., 372 pound nets increased
to 530, 406 hoop nets to 554. New, reserved and exceptionally
valuable waters were opened up for spoliation, and improved
machinery introduced for lifting nets.

Nets Multiply, Fish Decrease.

Evidence of a very convincing kind has recently been
given before the Dominion Fishery Commission, that about
five times the quantity of gill nets licensed were habitually
fished; in fact, that for some years, when a gill net license
was issued, the holder fished the extreme length of gill nets
he and his men could handle, and not infrequently with a
larger tug and a machine net lifter. This had become prac-
tically the " custom of the country." It is now a common
saying among fishermen : " If I don't catch it somebody else
will!" With all these adjuncts and advantages the catch of
fish of 1905 is reduced 5,000,000 lbs., but it is valued at

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nearly $500,000 in excess of 1899 prices. That this should
be paraded as a substantial increase in the value of the fish-
eries and a benefit to the province is not a compliment to the
Ontario reader.

To Supply Americans.

All this is done to supply the Americans with 95 per cent,
of the catch, leaving Ontario with 5 per cent. This large and
continuous shipment of our fish to the United States has
created the fish famine in Ontario. The Department of
Fisheries has hitherto been exceptional in not being closely
and continuously scrutinized by the press and the public.

Double Price, Poor Quality.

A revenue of about $46,303 is obtained from licenses to
fish. The value put upon the fish has no bearing whatever
upon the question of revenue. The license fees paid for:

530 pound nets gave a revenue of $26,500

Tugs and 3,910,678 yards of gill nets, revenue of 13,934

121 seines 1,307

554 hoop nets 2,770

Hook and night lines 217

Kepigon license fees 1,425

Dip nets 150

$46,303

A small surplus is claimed over and above expenditure.
The loss to the province owing to depletion is not mentioned,
nor that we are paying more than double price for fish of an
inferior quality.

Ninety-five per cent. Exported.

Xinety-five per cent, of the catch is exported. In an export
trade of any kind the best samples or stock are usually shipped ;
1,128,615 lbs. would be Ontario's proportion (5 per cent.) of
the 22,572,300 lbs. fish caught in 1905. An increase in price
of 5c. per lb. means a loss of $56,430 to the Ontario fish con-

sumers. It is admitted that the fisheries are being destroyed,
and that the best of our commercial fishing waters are fast
approaching the condition of Lake Ontario.

That, what once were, our magnificent lake fisheries should
be saved from destruction goes without saying. But there
are difficulties to be surmounted.

Cut Out Destructive Nets.

If the destructive small-meshed pound nets are abolished, as
it is admitted they should be, a revenue of $26,500 vanishes.
If seines are condemned as destructive and barbarous, that
takes another $1,307 from revenue. If the small gill net
mesh is increased to five inch extension, as it must be to save
the fisheries, half the gill net licenses would be abandoned;
that would be another loss of $6,697. All the hoop nets,
$2,780. Without revenue to meet expenditure, the present
system would collapse, and if the present system is continued
the fisheries will collapse.

The Sick Fisheries.

Departments, or branches of departments, are frequently
conducted without revenue that will meet expenditure, but
compensation and indirect advantages are looked for in the
shape of improvements or increased wealth to the country. It
would be very exceptional to conduct a department on those
lines for the purpose of destruction. The Fishery Depart-
ment had the dry rot. Staff and overseers had simply to look
at something which was gradually disappearing.

It only requires a moment's thought to know that if fish
that have never spawned are taken and marketed, extinction
must follow, and within a very short period. The bulk of
the fish taken were undersized and immature.

Federal Government's Rights.

The Federal Government, by the decision of the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council, has the power to abolish the

various condemned nets and meshes now in use for destroying
fish. If it neglects or refuses to take any action, the province
has the power to withhold licenses to fish with such nets.

The Deadly Pound Nets.

A description of the various nets now in use in our waters
may be of interest.

. The pound net is the principal engine and is an American
invention. It is a fixture. It begins with a lead about 70
rods long running from near the shore to what are called
hearts ; the fish so led into the hearts are there further guided
through an entrance into a pot or pound, with a mesh an inch
square. That pot can be lifted and the fish taken into boats.
This pot is set in about 20 to 30 feet of water. The net is set
with stakes 45 to 50 feet long, firmly driven and set, so as to
withstand storms. A pound net pot 20 to 25 feet square and
20 to 30 feet deep gives some idea of this destructive engine.
Ten tons of fish can easily be taken at a lift. Its fatal defect
is that it destroys whitefish and lake trout not only five inches
in length, but millions of recently spawned fish are mixed up
with sometimes tons of the larger fish when the pot is lifted.
Professor Prince has described how these minute fish, some-
times barely visible to the eye, are destroyed where seines are
drawn. The destruction is even greater when a pound net pot
is lifted. The pot is a sort of refuge for minute recently
hatched fish. They go through the small inch bar mesh for
shelter and to their destruction.

The Condemned Seines.

The seine is too well known to require description. Pro-
fessor Prince condemns it wholly for commercial fishing, but
one of its most objectionable features is not mentioned. To
draw a seine it is apparent to any one that every obstruction
in the water must be removed. Stones, boulders, old stumps,
logs, branches, weeds, every refuge the small fish have, and in
many cases supplying them with food as well as shelter, every

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protection and refuge nature gave to the small fish to make
them safe from their enemies, must be removed. The seine is
cruel as well as destructive. It was justifiable in the early-
days when settlers required fish to eat, and could not get food
in any other way. Those conditions no longer exist. More-
over, the fish now taken with seines are shipped to the States.

The Gill Nets.

Gill nets have fewer objectionable features than any other
net, and are ample for commercial fishing in our waters.
They are usually set in deep water. The meshes are of a size
to take the commercial fish: lake trout, whitefish and her-
rings, also blue pickerel. This last fish is almost as objection-
able in our waters as the carp, but happily it has made its
habitat in the east end of Lake Erie. It is as distinct from the
dore, or yellow pickerel, as the wolf is from the lamb. The
blue pickerel go in shoals like herrings; when on the run
(usually in the fall) tons are taken at a lift in herring gill
nets. Very few herring are then taken; they seldom run
together. A three-inch extension mesh is correctly used for
herring, but a too small mesh is now in use for whitefish and
lake trout. That objection to gill nets can be rectified. Gill
nets are now fished too late in the fall, taking the finer kinds
of fish when congregated for spawning.

Trap Nets.

The trap net is par excellence the poacher's net. It is
practically a small pound net, anchored, and not being set
with stakes, and no portion of it above water, can only be
found by grappling. Poachers can go direct to it, its location
being marked by shore objects. If our fish were not shipped
to the States from every fishing point, the poacher's occupation
would be gone. It is the high price now paid for our fish,
shipped to the States, that makes poaching pay.

Hoop Nets.

The hoop net is a small net set in water four or five feet
deep. Wherever set it is an indication that fishing in that
locality is about played out. This net can be put in the water
for about $5. Wherever set (like the seines) it usually
destroys game fish, and consequently rod-and-line fishing.
Five hundred and fifty-four of these hoop nets are now
licensed.

Black Bass and Sturgeon

Two fishes, strangely distinct in their character, are now
attracting attention; one from a sportsman's point of view,
the other on wholly commercial grounds. Black bass may be
described as the last of the game fish of Old Ontario. The
efforts to protect them have not been successful. One defect
in the present system of protection for game fish is that it is
too paternal. Given proper close seasons, the enforcement of
the law should be left to the county and township authorities.
Up to date the local authorities have been educated not to
interfere with that central power located in the Parliament
Buildings.

Should Extend Close Season.

The close season for black bass should be extended to July
15th. Even at that date some of the fish have not spawned.
It is generally known now that black bass protect and look
after their young brood for a fortnight or three weeks after
they take life. The young are piloted by the parent fish to
localities where they can feed in safety from their predaceous
enemies.

A black bass deposits from 3,000 to 10,000 eggs. As the
nests are guarded by the parent fish during the hatching pro-
cess, which is short, the crop of young fish is fairly complete.
The angler who takes a black bass between June 15th and
July 15th — that is, during the hatching and guarding pro-
cess— practically destroys from 3,000 to 10,000 fish which

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might otherwise have reached maturity. By extending the
close season to July 15th, only one month, no amount of rod
fishing would make a perceptible reduction.

Enforce the Close Season.

The present regulations limiting the catch and prohibiting
sale are vexatious and are not obeyed. If the duties of con-
stables, overseers and game club employees were limited to
enforcing a close season only, and the restrictions limiting
catch and prohibiting sale removed, the general public would
approve every conviction for a violation of the close season.
The people of Ontario do not like class legislation, and the
present regulations incline that way.

The sturgeon, which even fifteen years ago had little value,
is now the most valuable fish in our waters. The money is in
the eggs, which, by hand manipulation being converted into
caviare, reach a value of $1 per pound. ( As from 15 to 30 lbs.
of eggs are taken from a sturgeon, according to size, and as
the meat brings from 6c. to 8c. per pound, a full-grown fish
becomes of about the same value as a cow.

As this fish is captured wholly for export, and before
spawning, its extinction, one might say, has been criminally
rapid. Lake Ontario, as late as the 60's, abounded in stur-
geon of a very large size. The catch of sturgeon in our lakes
and rivers in 1897 was 1,776,950 lbs. It is now reduced to
485,200 lbs. But the most recent instance is the Lake of the
Woods. A few years since 716,000 lbs. of sturgeon meat and
63,800 lbs. caviare were taken out of Ontario's half of that
lake in one season. That lake is now one of the " has beens."
The destruction of whitefish and trout in the Lake of the
Woods is on the same scale, and all has been done since the
process of destruction from present methods was fully under-
stood.

Save the Fish.

The taking of sturgeon should now be prohibited. There
are enough left for seed. The eggs cannot be fertilized and

9

hatched artificially; experience has shown that the process
of nature cannot be improved upon.

With all the appliances now in use for taking sturgeon,
the remnant will vanish like a flash. Fortunately it is an
abnormally reproductive fish. A full-grown sturgeon will
deposit from 50,000 to 1,500,000 eggs, and the young, soon
after hatching, are so well protected by natural formation as
to be all but immune from attacks by predaceous fish. To
protect this fish would mean an almost fabulous increase of
wealth in our waters. For its destruction the province may
be said to have received practically nothing in return. Even
the salt, with which the eggs are cured and made into caviare,
is imported from Germany, and German kegs or packages are
frequently sent out so as to give the caviare the appearance of
a European product.

Even now, this fishery question, this veritable heritage, has
been but barely touched. One is reminded of the great Cecil
Rhodes on his death-bed saying, " So little done ; so much to
do."

II.

There is a delusion in reference to the preservation of the
fisheries which is and has been persistently published, and
that is the alleged impossibility of protecting fish which can
swim from our waters into the American waters.

At the time of the Boer War, the late Lord Salisbury
attributed the ignorance of the English people to their study-
ing military movements from small maps. The fishery ques-
tion is not only misunderstood for the same reason, but nearly
all the views published for years on the subject of the fisheries
have emanated from a fishing quarter.

A Good Turn from Americans.

Professor Prince, the highest authority on the subject,
says : " The American methods of fishing without restriction
and at all available seasons have been disastrous to their fish-

10

eries and, upon strict inquiry, of very little injury to ours."
He gives reasons which are conclusive to all excepting those
who do not wish to be convinced. Prof. Prince limits his
remarks to fish, but it is the habit of birds, when a flock or
bevy has been reduced or decimated, to join another flock. It
is the same with animals. The Indian tribes did it. The
Scotch clans also. " Anything for a quiet life " is the rule
with almost everything that has life. The American fisheries
are persistently worried. The Professor might have gone fur-
ther and said that American methods had benefited our
fisheries.

Ontario's Fish Rations.

Figures in relation to the fisheries are interesting. On-
tario has a population of 2,500,000, and the yearly consump-
tion of our lake fish is 1,128,615 lbs. (the 5 per cent, not
shipped to the States). That is less than half a pound a year
for each man, woman and child. Waste in cleaning has
to be considered, and the consumption by travellers in hotels
and restaurants. One-quarter of a pound of fish would prob-
ably be the quantity which might be consumed in twelve
months by each of our inhabitants. That means that hundreds
of thousands of our people never taste fish. In fact, we have
ceased to be fish consumers. Even Toronto, the centre of our
intelligence, is a wretched fish market compared with an
American or any other civilized city of the same size. Half
a pound of fish supplied daily for a year to each inhabitant
of Ontario (which would be a quarter of a pound when
cooked) would require 456,250,000 lbs. That would be
twenty times the entire catch of our waters at the present
time.

The Outstanding Fact.

No criticism of these figures can weaken or affect the
argument that our birthright has been sacrificed in this respect,
and not even a mess of pottage obtained for it.

With our rapidly increasing population and wealth, and

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a crying demand for " pure food," this is a matter which
must now be looked at " straight in the face."

When the late Government took over the fisheries in 1898
the American tariff should have been considered. That alone,
apart from the depletion of the fisheries, was a justification
to encourage home consumption. There was then, and is
now, an import duty on our lake fish going into the United
States. That amounted to $58,884 on the 21,553,655 pounds
we sent there in 1905. That was the smallest sum we ever
paid the United States for allowing them the privilege of eat-
ing our fish. Had we salted or smoked those fish then we would
have paid three-quarters of a cent per pound duty, or $161,-
652. That latter duty was, of course, prohibitory, on salted
or smoked herrings, and intended to be so. Were it not so
it would be increased. We have thus not only destroyed our
fisheries for the benefit of the Americans and given them $58-
884 in Customs duties (yearly), but we have been instru-
mental in building up a great salting and smoking fish indus-
try in the United States, which, had we restricted exportation,,
might have been a Canadian industry.

An Industey We Should Have.

It is not only fresh fish which might be (and which a few
years ago were) peddled throughout the townships, but salted
and smoked fish would not only be largely consumed in our
cities, towns, and villages, but would also be distributed by
peddlers throughout all parts of the country districts, mining
and lumber camps.

A salting and smoking industry in this province at the pres-
ent time is undeveloped. It is carried on in a slovenly, spas-
modic manner. The people of Ontario have not only been given
a distaste for fresh fish by being supplied with undersized,
half -grown, soft fish, not sufficiently grown to become flaky, and
wholly devoid of taste, but the smoked and salted fish are
selected from a quality too stale for transportation to the
United States. And as the fishermen say, " They must be

12

salted or smoked to save their lives." Any one familiar with
our fishing industry would not touch a salted or smoked
herring.

In the Lower Provinces.

There is nothing new in this; it has happened elsewhere.
In the last report of the Marine and Fishery Department,
issued at Ottawa, page 108, it says (in reference to one of the
lower provinces) : " Our fish are put up in the most shameful
way. Most of the fishermen use more salt than is needed.
One object is to cheat. The fish remain so long out of the
water before they go into the salt that it is impossible to cure
them. It is necessary to have herring perfectly fresh, and
they should at once be sprinkled with salt. The gills and gut
must be taken clean away with a sharp knife, and the roe and
milt left in the fish; second Liverpool fishery salt should be
exclusively used. ,

Any one reading this report in full and with a knowledge
of the unwholesome way in which our lake fish are now cured
for the market would have some idea of the great possibilities
of a salting and smoking industry in Ontario if properly con-
ducted. It cannot be done in a slipshod way by fishermen,
and from stale fish. It is an industry requiring special
knowledge and skilled labor.

This industry can never be established under the present
licensing system. Both the quantity, quality and price of
the supply would be too uncertain for any one to venture capi-
tal in it. 5,000,000 lbs. of herrings were taken in Ontario
waters in 1905, clearly a foundation for an industry with
great possibilities.

Pure Pood.

There is now a cry in Ontario, and, indeed, throughout
the world, for pure food. Boric acid, a chemical almost as
deadly as arsenic, makes old meat look fresh, and it gets into
tv>~ canning factories in a specially prepared salt. Sugar has

13

many deadly substitutes. Starch in almost every form is par-
aded as a breakfast food and a " health food " ; and still we
sacrifice to the gain of a few that article of absolute purity,
the fresh fish of our lakes, which nature gave us a free gift.
And this is the end of that bombastic announcement made in
1899, " that there would soon be a large increase in the supply
of fish and a perceptible improvement in the fishing industry."

Cheap Fish Needed.

Cheap electric power has aroused the whole of Ontario.
Surely this question of cheap, pure fish would be a greater
boon! Pish can be distributed cheaply. Our existence in
this world is a misery without health, and that health we have
not at present. Catarrh, eczema, piles and rupture are fright-
fully prevalent. These and many other complaints, the result
of heated blood, are caused usually by a continuous, unbroken,
strong meat diet from infancy to middle age. It was an
economy with the early settlers to have fish upon their tables ;
a breakfast table without fish was exceptional. Their tomb-
stones register eighty, eighty-five and ninety years, and they
were free from complaints making life a burden.

This in a measure the late Government in 1898 and sub-
sequently had the power to rectify. It did not rise to the
occasion, although in touch with the Ottawa authorities.
Every defect in previous management was intensified, and we
fail to discover that the late Government had the faintest
indication of a capacity to handle and develop this great
heritage. \

Joint Authority.

A few years before Confederation, when the government of
the country was at a deadlock, " some joint authority " was
proposed as a remedy. That is what we now have in the fish-
eries. The Privy Council left with the Federal Government
the power to make such regulations as would prevent the prov-
inces from destroying the fisheries. That power has been
exercised in a peculiar manner.

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Became Dishonest Trustees.

In the month of June, 1904, in anticipation of the Ontario
elections, the then Opposition were " Alverstoned " in the Lake
Erie shore constituencies. A sop was thrown to the fishermen
by the Federal Government by suspending the close seasons.
At the same time the reserved waters in the North Channel of
Georgian Bay were opened for destruction.

Present System Bad.

There can be no future for the fisheries under the present
system. It is impossible to look into the future, but surprises
can be guarded against. Government ownership and munici-
pal ownership have of recent years become an accepted prin-
ciple, and in many cases highly advantageous. The time is
jnow opportune to make some suggestions as to the feasibility
..of our Fisheries Department being organized to manage the
industry direct, in case the Federal Government makes regula-
tions disorganizing the system left as a legacy to the present
Government. The report of the Dominion Fishery Commis-
sion may be delayed, but it is an act of courtesy as well as
..policy to await it a reasonable time.

] ';' i A ]STew Scheme.

Any proper regulations expected to be made either by the
Federal Government or the province to save the fisheries
would reduce the catch one-half at the least, probably to
12,000,000 lbs. The coarse fish, large in quantity, and not
marketable in Ontario, would still continue to be exported. If
Vfcaken under provincial management, the license system being
•abolished, profits would be made from exported coarse fish
that would pay the greater portion of the expenses in carrying
on the industry. The catch of yellow pickerel, whitefish and
lake trout, no longer caught immature, would be greatly
xeduced in quantity, and sturgeon no longer taken. A very
limited number of tugs on the Great Lakes would be ample

15

to carry on the fisheries on these lines. Every provincial tug
would become practically a " cruiser " and an aid to Captain
Dunn and i the Vigilant in destroying nets illegally set in our
waters. Export ceasing, except under provincial manage-
ment, and a supply of ice (absolutely necessary for export)
not being general, irregular shipments would be practicable
to a very limited extent. Canadian poaching would cease.
A carefully considered report, made under authority by a
competent commission, might disclose that Ontario, city, town
and country, could be supplied with the finer kinds of lake
fish in perfect condition at rates within the reach of all the
people, the industry at the same time easily maintaining
itself.

ill.

The destruction of the fisheries of the Province of Ontario
has been an enormous wickedness. For some years prior to
1892 representations were made to the Fisheries Department
at Ottawa that the destruction of the fisheries of the north
part of Lake Huron, the Georgian Bay and Lake Superior
were following upon the same lines which had depleted Lake
Ontario, Lake Erie, the Detroit River, and the south end of
Lake Huron.

The Tupper Commission.

Sir Charles Hibbert Tupper, Minister of Fisheries, in
1892, appointed a commission to visit all the principal fishing
points on the Great Lakes, with power to take sworn evidence
and report. This commission was in all respects similar to the
commission recently appointed at Ottawa, the report of which
we are now awaiting.

A Valuable Report.

The report of 1892 was printed in a Blue-book in 1893,
and to this day is a valuable text-book for any desiring to

16

■understand the fishery question. It is a book of 500 pages,
and the correctness of one line in it has never been disputed.

In 1893 Sir Charles Hibbert Tupper was in Paris, a
member of the Behring Sea Commission. During his absence
the question of Federal or Provincial ownership of the fisheries
was formulated. In October, 1893, Sir John Abbott, Prem-
ier, died. In December, 1894. Sir John Thompson died.
In January, 1896, six Conservative Ministers resigned. At
the general elections in June of that year the Liberals won.

The Record of a Public Crime.

The commissioners' fishery report of 1893 then fell upon
stony ground. It was practically shelved. It did not get
into general circulation, but copies of it could be seen in the
Public and Legislative Libraries and in the office of the On-
tario Department of Fisheries. It is interesting reading, and
rises up in judgment against all in authority who disregarded
it. Some examples of the evidence taken will be instructive
at the present time:

George Knight, fisherman, Collingwood, sworn, said:
" Whitefish are now scarce all over the Georgian Bay. We
get very few, indeed. Fifteen or sixteen years ago they were
very plentiful. There are now (1892) four times as many
nets in the Georgian Bay as there were fifteen or twenty years
ago. These fish have taken some other course. The spawn-
ing ground was once on this side of the bay, but they do not
come any more. It is a hard matter to make a living now,
the fish are getting so scarce."

Norman Saunders, fisherman, of Collingwood, said : " This
is a whitefish bay naturally, but the whitefish have been
getting scarce for about eight years, caused by double the
amount of fishing. November, the spawning month, used to
be the best for whitefish."

Fishing in Spawning Season.

William A. Clarke, fisherman, Collingwood, said : " Car-
loads of young, immature fish are now taken at Thessalon

17

Point and Dollar Bay. There is a current there which they
frequent for food, and it is protected. I have noticed this for
two years: in a whole cartload you would not get one over
3-4 to 1 1-2 lbs. I took particular notice of them passing in
transit. These immature whitefish, as a rule, pass on to the
American markets. The great quantities of immature white-
fish wasted would in a couple of years have become good fish.
Whitefish have fallen off thirty per cent, anywhere in the
Georgian Bay. Twenty years ago, if a man had taken a gang
of nets to Squaw Island, the same as we are now, it would
have taken a small schooner to carry the fish away. There
are not any more whitefish on those grounds. The decrease
has been caused by over-fishing, and fishing in the spawning
time. There are none on the south shore. Large quantities
of small, immature fish are now shipped, which are princi-
pally caught in the North Channel above Little Current.
There were never so many caught as in the past season (1891)
and shipped at Collingwood and Wiarton. A proper-sized
mesh is the true remedy to prevent this destruction of imma-
ture fish. Some obey the law and some do not. It is a one-
sided affair."

The Small Mesh Net's Work.

At Meaf ord at the same date it was the same story. John
McCree, fisherman, Meaf ord, said : " A two-pound whitefish
is not a mature fish; over-fishing has destroyed the fisheries
on the south shore of the Georgian Bay; whitefish are now a
thing of the past on this shore; they are the most profitable
fish if they could be caught."

Gilbert Peter Mcintosh, fish-dealer, Meaf ord, said : " A
four and a half inch mesh is too small for these waters. A five-
inch mesh should be the minimum. The Autumn mesh should
be five and a half. Pish now caught are immature and
unable to breed. Some shipments average three-quarters of
a pound to one and a half pounds, quite small fish. I have
handled them. Formerly we could not dispose of such fish,
but we can do so now." (1892.)

18
The Fish Just Disappeared.

James Pilgrim, fisherman, Meaford, said : " Whitefish have
left here ; they don't come here ; they have just disappeared."

Adam H. Stephen, druggist, Meaford, said : " We used to
catch great numbers of whitefish on the shore here. When I
was fishing, eight years ago, eight miles off Meaford, I have
taken 1,500 out of one gill net. Other fishermen did the
same. They were full of spawn; they all left at once, and
for a number of years we have not fished it. The mesh
should now be five inches at the least."

John Nelson, fisherman, Meaford, said : " The fishermen
follow the whitefish to the North Shore in October. The
finest and largest whitefish and salmon trout go there to
spawn, and are not caught there at any other time. They are
caught right on shore on their spawning ground. I have
seen forty boats of us within three miles — this is general
with other fishermen. This is the time to catch these large
spawning fish. The boats come from Manitoulin Island and
all parts of the Georgian Bay. The fishermen follow the fish
down from the north shore of the Manitoulin, and at this time
the spawn is running freely from the fish. Whole families
of fishermen have left Meaford, who formerly made their
living there."

The Midland Consensus.

The evidence taken at Midland was almost identical to
what has been written ; with these additions :

" A great many fish are spoiled by the nets being out too
long. The fish are spoiled. Local men take these dead fish
and salt and smoke them."

" If the fishing goes on as at present the fishermen cannot
live."

" Close seasons are sound in principle, but have never
been enforced."

" The nets used in close seasons are generally sunk, and
difficult to find without grappling irons."

19

" Small fish are thrown away on the ice below Wau-
baushene."

" Quantities of fish are lost by having too many nets out,
and leaving them in the water too long. The fish drown and
die. The good fish are kept separate for the American mar-
ket; the culls, which cannot be sold, are salted, but no one
seeing this done would eat them."

" There are ten boats fishing now where there was one ten
years ago, making it appear that there is no falling off of
fish."

" The excessive quantity of nets used has as much to do
with the waste of fish as the stormy weather; fishermen now
fish in 420 feet of water, twenty miles out."

The Late James Noble.

Mr. James Noble (since deceased), of the firm of J. &
C. Noble, gave valuable evidence. He, being duly sworn,
said : " I live at Killarney, and am engaged in fishing for
the last seventeen years. I am a dealer in fish also. The
5-inch mesh became unprofitable and we use a 4 1-2 inch mesh
to take the smaller sized fish; we pay 3 3-4 cents per pound
to the fishermen for whitefish, salmon trout, pickerel, and
black bass. We ship our trout to the Buffalo Fish Company,
via Collingwood.

" There are many other companies on the Georgian Bay
which sell to the Buffalo company — C. Duffy, of Byng Inlet,
and Purvis Brothers, at Gore Bay. The Buffalo company
have two tugs which are sent around to gather fish from the
other companies; our contract calls for 1,600,000 lbs. of fish.
We furnish the fishermen with such fishing gear as they may
want : boats, nets, etc., and sell them such provisions as they
require. Our business was first commenced about fifteen
years ago — in 1877 — and has been increasing every year
since. We at first dealt only with a Canadian company,
which sent fish throughout Canada and to the States. That
lasted about one year. The following year we contracted

20

with the Buffalo company; we then bought whitefish and
salmon trout from the fishermen at 4 1-2 cents each. These
fish now sell in Toronto and other Ontario towns and cities,
when they can get them, at 40 cents to 75 cents each. Our
business finally ran up to a million and a half pounds yearly.
This was a result of increased plant, more nets, tugs and
boats. We do not expect a continuance of this business, as
there is now a considerable decrease in the fisheries — we all
know that well ! If this excessive fishing goes on at the same
rate, the fishing industries in the Georgian Bay and North
Channel cannot last long. Therefore we think some strong
measure must be brought to bear to protect the fisheries, other-
wise the formerly great fisheries in this section of the province
will soon be done away."

" The pound nets with 1-inch and 1 1-2 inch mesh have
destroyed immense quantities of young fish of all kinds. This
should be prevented, as it is one of the greatest evils. Fish
at the spawning time should be protected, as they are not so
good as at other times. They are then softer and have more
slime upon them, and are not so suitable for transport. They
spoil much more readily at this time. Fishermen could not
stand a proper 5-inch mesh now, not if they were given three
years to make the change ; they could not make it pay. They
would not take out licenses. The fisheries will never recu-
perate unless better protected and they get into better hands."

On the Broad Road.

Notwithstanding all this evidence from men of high stand-
ing with a special knowledge of the subject, fishing tugs from
1892 to 1905 were doubled in number, and fishermen in-
creased. Gill nets jumped from 287,554 yards to 879,800
yards in the North Channel, and from 80,000 yards in the
Georgian Bay to 863,100 yards; at the same time the catch
of whitefish in the North Channel fell from 4,002,706 lbs.
in 1892 to 660,430 lbs. in 1905, a decrease of 3,342,276 lbs.,
and in the Georgian Bay from 3,627,400 lbs. in 1892 to 333,-

21

620 lbs. in 1905, a decrease of 3,293,780 lbs. and fishery
influences prevented the introduction of a 5-inch mesh.

The fisheries of the Georgian Bay and North Channel are
even now as much a thing of the past as the late Government,
which permitted them to go to destruction.

A letter has recently appeared in the Mail and Empire,
attributing this waste of our wealth to suckers. The " suck-
ers " who have steered our fisheries to destruction are very
much alive, and in business in Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo and
New York. The people of the province are now beginning
to understand the full enormity of the reckless, senseless, and,
to put it mildly, questionable management of this great
heritage.

In the Detroit River, where millions of whitefish were
taken during the spawning season, not a sucker was taken.
They were in their proper feeding grounds. It was the same
along the Lake Ontario shore when the great hauls were made
during the spawning season. No suckers were taken, although
seines draw in every fish. It was the same in Lake Huron, on
the great Au Sable spawning beach: no suckers were there.
Until quite recently sturgeon were considered spawn eaters.
Scientific inquiry and the use of the microscope have proved
the contrary.

Does the Sucker Eat Spawn.

It is more than doubtful whether the sucker is a spawn
eater. The suckers were placed in our waters by the
great Creator as a food fish for other fishes. They are
the first to spawn in the early spring, running up the
rivers and creeks in advance of all other fishes. All fishes
can follow theni with a certainty of having their proper food.
Suckers are not only a pilot fish, but a complete commissariat
department in our waters. They have an exceptionally large
swim bladder, which, when done feeding, enables them to
float at ease from the bottom, making them a conspicuous and
easy prey for predaccous fish. A ten-pound pike or maskin-

22

onge will swallow the largest sucker. Nature's plan with this
fish was clearly to protect the finer kinds of fish. All fish with
teeth are cannibals and will devour the young of their own
species if they cannot get the food to which their natural
instincts direct them. In trout culture it is well known that
the larger and smaller fish must have separate ponds. The
female of the black bass is a born cannibal, and is driven away
from the young brood by the male for this reason.

When our Great Lakes were first opened for commercial
fishing, whitefish, the most helpless of all our fishes, predom-
inated over all others, and suckers abounded. In Lake On-
tario and Lake Erie, following the destruction of salmon trout,
the burbot (also called ling or eel ponts), a most destructive
fish, increased in vast numbers, but there has been no percept-
ible increase in suckers. In Long Point Bay, the great
breeding and spawning place for Lake Erie, there are few
suckers. The hard or predaceous fish feed upon them. The
suggestion that suckers destroy our whitefish is that sort of
defence recently put in by a man in England caught killing
a sheep. He said, " It tried to bite him."

IV.

In 1899 the first report of the Ontario Fisheries Depart-
ment was issued. It is there stated that the Hon. Mr." Hardy,
then Premier of Ontario, at a conference held at Ottawa,
" was assured that in relation to the fisheries there need be no
serious apprehension of any conflict in authority in the exer-
cise of their several functions, and generally, that the unity
of opinion on the part of both Governments would prevent all
friction."

The Government Knew.

It may not be generally known that the Hardy Govern-
ment, and subsequently *the Ross Government, were fully
aware of the then deplorable condition of the fisheries. The

23

same report (1899) says: " That the department found, upon
assuming the administration of the fisheries, that the fishing
industry of the Great Lakes was practically controlled by
American companies, which had established supply houses
and agencies for the purchase of fish, etc., at different points
on the lakes. This control had been acquired through the
inability of the fishermen to discharge liabilities incurred for
nets, supplies, etc., furnished by the American companies;
that the licenses are applied for and issued in the names of
the fishermen, but there is reason to believe that the substan-
tial profits pass to the companies, while the fishermen them-
selves in many cases occupy positions little better that those
of day laborers."

Substantial Profits.

The report of the following year (1900) shows that no
effort was made to prevent these " substantial profits " passing
to the companies — meaning the American trusts. The next
report (1901) comments favorably upon "the high prices
obtained for fish." What are called " high prices " are not
what the fishermen get. It is an arbitrary valuation put
upon the catch by the department, based upon quotations in
the American Fishery Gazette.

Abolish Close Seasons.

The report of 1902 suggests that all close seasons might
be abolished, and to depend upon hatcheries to restock the
lakes. It says : " A decrease in whitefish is everywhere
reported, and unless a large output from the hatcheries is
made there can be but one result — one that will ever be de-
plored— its complete annihilation. Its only salvation is the
hatcheries."

The report of 1903 not only shows a diminished catch,
but states that many fishermen, finding other employment
more remunerative, had abandoned fishing. Propagation of
fish by hatcheries is again recommended.

24

The report of 1904 says : " The fishermen obtained high
prices during the whole year," the American trusts being the
fishermen ; and it is suggested that we should adopt the Amer-
ican plan of unrestricted fishing — in season and out of season.

Licenses foe Canadians.

The report of the year 1905 says : " That though fewer fish
were caught, the prices were better." It is admitted that
the American companies, or trusts, still controlled our fisher-
ies, " and that if future licenses were confined to Canadians
it would require all the catch to supply the home market. In
that case the Canadians who are operating American plants in
our waters would have no difficulty in obtaining equally lucra-
tive employment in other fields of labor."

The Sponge Thrown Up.

This is surely a lame and impotent conclusion to eight
years of management of the great heritage. A perusal of
these seven annual reports creates a doubt as to whether it is
not possible to " fool all the people all the time." You search
in vain throughout the fishery reports for one line indicating
that cheap, wholesome fish for the people of Ontario is even
thought of, always excepting the first report which promised
them. The whole system of management seems to have been
dominated by the American plan of unrestricted fishing, ex-
port to the States, and hatcheries as a remedy for depletion.

Canadian vs. American.

But there is this difference between Ontario and the States
— the Americans, with their hatcheries, plant fish in their
waters, to be consumed in the States. They stock all their
rivers, creeks and small lakes with game fish of all kinds, as
well as planting fry of the commercial fishes in the Great
Lakes. It becomes necessary to interest all classes to warrant a
system of reproduction by hatcheries, with its enormous attend-
ant expenses. But would our Provincial Government or our

25

Federal Government introduce a system of hatcheries and un-
restricted fishing to supply the Americans with 95 per cent, of
the catch, and our fishermen reduced to a condition little
better than that of " the man with the hoe " ? The suggestion
is too absurd for a moment's consideration.

Ontario's Three Hatcheries. ,

There are now three hatcheries in Ontario. The first was
founded by the late Samuel Wilmot in 1867, at Newcastle,
and purchased by the Government of that day. Another is at
Sandwich, on the Detroit River, founded in 1876, and one at
Ottawa, in 1890. From these three hatcheries 600,000,000
whitefish, salmon trout and pickerel fry have been planted in
our Ontario waters, and where are they? All that survived
to be as large as herrings were caught in our fishermen's small-
meshed nets and shipped to the States.

Inadequate Results.

It is not possible to report any satisfactory results from
the planting of these millions of fish in our waters, nor
can any return of any kind be discovered to warrant
this great expenditure of money. On the contrary, up
to this date it has been an encouragement to the Ameri-
can trusts to keep control of our fishing industry, and
rake in the " substantial profits." If the great heritage
can now only be preserved to us through the instrumentality
of hatcheries, a clean sweep must be made of the present
wasteful system of fishing and export prohibited of all fish
artificially propagated.

An Expert Opinion.

In reference to this, Professor Prince says : " As I have
repeatedly pointed out in various Blue-books, it is useless to
expect results in artificial stocking of rivers and lakes unless
proper protective measures are taken to prevent the fish being
exterminated. The Great Lakes — Erie, Ontario, Huron and

Superior — have been planted for long periods of years with
vast quantities of fine fish, and yet the old plenteousness has
not been restored. Incessant over-fishing, and all kinds of
destructive fishing, as well as the capture of small, immature
fish, has gone on without limitation." And the professor
might have added, " with unlimited extension." You will
search in vain in the seven annual reports of the Ontario
Department of Fisheries to find that these words of warning
and wisdom had made any impression. On the contrary,
everything that was wasteful and unrestricted was inten-
sified.

Never Taste Good Fish.

The people of Ontario have very largely emigrated from
the British Isles, where they were accustomed to the fishes of
the sea. The excellence of our whitefish, salmon trout, pick-
erel and others of our fresh-water fishes have been unknown
to them. The limited supply coming to the cities and towns
(even herring) have been so high priced as to be beyond the
reach of the masses. The supply has also been undersized,
tasteless, soft and spawning. Not one in a thousand has ever
tasted a full-grown fish in good condition. No blame can be
attributed to the present generation or to the new population
of recent years for the little interest they have hitherto shown
in the protection and preservation of our lake fisheries. But
this throws the greater blame upon the department,' where
they had full knowledge of the excellence of the fish and the
value and extent of the fisheries. Where there should have
Deen activity and careful supervision there was supineness
and neglect.

Surrender to the Trusts.

The great heritage has been wasted and permitted to be
controlled by American trusts. The millions of fish propa-
gated in our hatcheries at enormous expense have been de-
stroyed before reaching maturity. The American companies

27

have been permitted to accumulate fortunes by making day
laborers of our fishermen and depriving the people of Ontario
of their rights. The province practically makes nothing and
loses everything by this " give away " of our heritage. The
very worst disclosures in life insurance circles cannot compare
with this mismanagement. Whether the great heritage has
been scuttled and pillaged by pirates or allowed to drift upon
the rocks by an inexperienced crew, the position remains the
same — our fisheries have reached extinction point.

The Hatcheries Account.

For one year, ending June 30th last, $13,378.27 was ex-
pended in maintaining the Newcastle, Ottawa and Sandwich
hatcheries. This expenditure has continued annually for
nearly forty years, sometimes more, and occasionally a less
sum, and the entire output from these concerns has been
wasted. The amateur savants in the department who now
report upon the habits and condition of the fisheries should
be assisted or replaced by some biological expert with special
knowledge, enabling him to give a report upon the food and
habits of our lake and other fish, with a view to their preser-
vation. This can only be done by a resident officer. Prof.
Prince has given us invaluable information. His duties ex-
tend from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but his views would
always be of value, and would be freely given in consultation
with an Ontario biological expert.

An Expert Needed.

The necessity for such an officer is too clearly shown in
the various Ontario fishery reports. The phenomenal increase
of pike in Burlington Bay is there explained by one official
by the carp having driven the pike off their feeding grounds.
Predaceous fish make their habitat where they can get their
food easiest. A biological expert would no doubt explain this
phenomenon by finding that the young of the carp had become
the food of the pike, and that carp were an attraction for

them. For this reason a close season might be recommended
for pike to ensure their increase as carp destroyers.

The Black Bass and the Carp.

This same phenomenon has occurred in Long Point Bay.
The black bass of Lake Erie have concentrated there since the
coming of the carp to such an extent and in such numbers
that thousands of bass have been taken to stock the rivers and
small lakes of Ontario without apparently depleting the Long
Point Bay waters. The black bass now feed upon the young
of the carp, and no longer prey upon the young of their own
species. Another amateur savant in the same fishery report
says a two-pound whitefish is a luncheon for an eight-pound
salmon trout. A salmon trout is only half grown at fifteen
pounds' weight. Such a statement tends to encourage the
destruction of immature trout. We have evidence that lake
trout and whitefish have separate feeding grounds and do not
herd together. When the whitefish come to the shores to spawn
the lake trout have spawned and left. A lake trout has been
opened for inspection and six herring found inside.

The Food for the Trout.

The herring is a graceful fish, built to be swallowed by
other fish. A two-pound whitefish has a hump on its back, and,
as fish do not chew their food, could not be swallowed. Wher-
ever the salmon trout have been reduced in numbers from
over-fishing there has been a corresponding increase in the
herring, the fish they preyed upon. This is very apparent
in the Georgian Bay and Lake Erie. The views of amateur
scientists usually tend to confusion.

Running the Gauntlet.

Last year over 30,000,000 whitefish fry were deposited in
the Detroit River from the Sandwich hatchery, on the suppo-
sition that they would be carried by the currents of the river
and the lake to the deep water at t1^ * east end of Lake Erie,

29

there to mature. On this eventful journey of nearly 300
miles, these small whitefish ran the gauntlet of two hundred
and fifty Ontario small-meshed pound nets, beginning at
Pelee Island. An examination of the thousands of minute
and small fish crushed and mangled at every lifting of these
nets should be made to ascertain if these hatchery fish are
destroyed in infancy. If they are, the pound nets should
cease their deadly work, or the hatchery its useless efforts and
expenditure. It may even be found that the drawing of
seines in the Detroit River to get the eggs and milt for the
hatchery may destroy millions of naturally fertilized eggs,
which would have produced fish by natural process and with-

Its Usefulness Gone.

The run of whitefish to the Detroit River has been so re-
duced that the Sandwich hatchery may yet cease its work as
a whitefish establishment. In this connection, a remarkable
circumstance happened with the Newcastle hatchery. This
hatchery was established to preserve the run of sea salmon,
which then frequented Lake Ontario for spawning. Whether
the female salmon objected to the rough handling in this pisci-
cultural lying-in establishment, or the absence of trained
nurses, is not known, but in a few years the run of salmon
from the sea wholly ceased, nor has it ever been renewed. It
was then converted into a salmon trout hatchery and fertilized
egfj?s from Wiarton sent there for treatment.

An Open Question.

Many fishes cannot be artificially propagated. It is by no
means settled that the artificial planting of whitefish in our
Great Lakes has been a success or ever will be. The planting
of salmon trout may be. With the salmon trout, however,
there is this present difficulty. The males precede the females
to the spawning beaches and are netted before the females
follow on. The result is that milt from the male fish is

30

obtained with the greatest difficulty to fertilize the eggs when
the females are taken and stripped. This earlier destruction
of the male fish would also waste the eggs deposited in the
lake for fertilization by natural process. Unless the close sea-
son for salmon trout and whitefish is made to begin October
1st in all the lakes, regardless of climatic conditions, these fish
are doomed. Truly our fishery department in the past had
a plentiful supply of that " little knowledge " which has been
described as a dangerous thing.

EDWARD HARRIS.

61 Prince Arthur Avenue, Toronto.

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