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97<br />
LOBSTERS.<br />
This fishery has almost ceased to be a remunerative industry in New Brunswick..<br />
As I have pointed out for the last ten years in every report, this result was inevit.-<br />
able fiom the wasteful manner in which the business was pursued. When the<br />
average site of the fish had become so small that it took from five to six and a half<br />
lobsters to fill a pound can, and when canners sought by increased production to<br />
make up for low prices in overstocked markets, what other result could be ox.-<br />
pected? The following figures will show how rapid the decline has been in the last<br />
five years:<br />
The catch was :<br />
Cans. Tons.<br />
In 1885 5,236,253 3,111<br />
l86 4,661,812 4,290<br />
1887 . 2,630,559 3,650<br />
1888. 1,843,368 1,948<br />
In 186 there were 168 factories in operation; in 1887 there were 123, and this<br />
year only 75 have operated, many of these not running full time br want of fish,<br />
The report of the Commissioners appointed to enquire into the decline and its causes,<br />
showed beyond doubt that overfishing was the cause of all the trouble, and that.<br />
sufficient protection had not been provided by the regulations. At that time fishing<br />
was allowed only from 1st April to 1st August, and all the facts collected showed<br />
that this did not save the fish from growing smaller and scarcer.<br />
OYSTERS.<br />
The catch of oysters is less than that of last year by 6,812 barrels. Nearly the<br />
whole catch of 16,384 barrels came from the bds of Gloucester and Northumberland,<br />
Those of Kent and Westmoreland, which formerly were said to be inexhaustible,<br />
are now nearly extinct. Kent County produced this year from all her beds in St.<br />
Louis, Richibucto, l3uctouche and Cocagne, but 2,000 barrels, while all the beds in<br />
Westmoreland have yielded only 106 barrels. As most of the oyster fishermen now<br />
concentrate their operations on the Gloucester and Northumberland beds, these are<br />
being exhausted faster than ever. How much longer these will pay for raking<br />
remains to be seen; but unless some comprehensive measure of protection is applied,<br />
the time must be very short. For twenty-one years I have been urging protection<br />
for our oyster beds; but their destruction has gone steadily on; year after year has<br />
passed without a single step being taken to prevent indiscriminate raking and<br />
wanton waste.<br />
CONDENSED REPORTS FROM LOCAL <strong>OF</strong>FICERS.<br />
RESTIGOUCHE COINTY.<br />
Overseer Verge, of the River division, reports "a shortage of 19,614 pounds o<br />
salmon as compared with the catch last year. This he attributes to the lateness of<br />
the season before nets were set, and to the early date at which they were removed.<br />
The run of logs in the Rostigouche Boom, at the head of tide, prevented several<br />
nets from being set before the first run of fish had passed. On the Quebec side the<br />
decrease was only 5,133 pounds." This constant decline in the catch of salmon on<br />
the Restigouche is very significant, and deserves grave consideration. On this river<br />
the first hatching house in New Brunswick was built in 1874, and every year since<br />
from half.a.million to a million and a-half of young salmon have been planted in this<br />
river, with the following result: In 1874, the fish, without any assistance, had provided<br />
a stock from which the fishermen took 678,500 pounds. After fourteen years<br />
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