DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES,

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moisture. During the forest era, rain fell, and gradually soaked its way through the
soil and reached the streamlets and rivers; the supply thus remaining fairly constant,
the rivers maintained a comparatively uniform flow ihroughout the summer,
and all the conditions were most favorable br the generation and preservation of
fish life.
But under the agricultural era, the country is denuded of its forests, and the
farmers dig ditches to accelerate the flow of water from the land to the river, these
no longer maintain the uniformity of their flow, but are alternately swollen or
shrunken, rs the meteorological condition of the preceding day has been stormy or
fair; in this case, too, the water of the river is no longer clear, but is, during the floods,
heavily freighted with earthy matters, by the erosion of the banks of the now swiftly
flowing streams and from the surface drains of the farmers; and in the dry time, the
sheltering trees having been taken away and the volume of the stream diminished, the
water is unduly raised in temperature, so that whether swollen or shrunken, the
rivers no longer present the same favorable condition, as the nursery of our fisheries
which they formerly did.
The remedies for these conditions are; first, to insert fishways in all dams;
second, to prevent, as far as possible the defilement of our streams by sawdust or
anything else in the shape of manufacturing refuse; and, third, to maintain about the
head waters of all rivers and streams an extensive growth of timber. With these
remeaies generally applied we may hope once more to see our rivers restocked;
without them, much of the benefit arising from the work now done by artificial proW
pagation towards re-stocking our streams is completely lost.
The stock of bait formerly supplied by the anathomous fishes, which is at pro.-
sent almost nonexistent, may be reproduced, the work will be gradual, but to be
effectual, the remedies must be generally and rigidly applied.
The baits used for cod are, mackerel, herring, squid, capelin and launce,
clams are also used to some extent. Mackerel in consequence of its high price and
great scarcity, cannot now be classed as a bait fish, though, formerly, it was extensively
and successfully osed. The herring is one of the principal baits used by our
fishermen. They are plentiful in their season and always obtainable at some point
on the coast. A fishing vessel can always go and seek bait, but the 45,000 shore fishermen
have to wait till the bait comes to them, or have to dig clams. In this bait
fishery, many fishermen claim that the use of the purse seine for mackerel has in
places affected the supply of herring. The temporary scarcity which occurs in some
localities could, however, be easily and cheaply met by the erection of ice houses and
refrigerators, in which a considerable store of herring could be kept. The squid is
largely used by our fishermen and its arrival on our coasts is anxiously looked for;
this bait is also frequently obtainable on the barks in quantities. Clams are used as
a sort of reserved bait by our shore fishermen: when no other bait is to be had, they
will dig clams and use them. Launee and capelin are used largely in the Gulf of St.
Lawrence. Each bait comes in regular sequence and the most successful bait is always
the one which is in season at the time. I have already alluded to the work undertaken
by the United States Government of ropopulating the deserted littoral waters
of the New Engbrid coast. The magnitudu and questionable success of the work
should be a warning to us in Canada; the condition of our fisheries is still fairly good,
but the fact that our fishermen have yearly to go further to sea to make their catch,
points to a retrogression. The final destruction may and should be averted, and we
should therefore not only stringently enforce all laws enacted for the protection of
the fisheries, but should, if necessary, legislate still further in this direction.
A FISHSRT INTELLIGENCE BUREAU.
During the past season I was enabled, through the public spiritedness of a
number of Collectors of Customs and other gentlemen, who acted as volunteer correspondents,
to establish for a short time a sort of intelligence department, by which
I was able to keep track of the movements of the fish. The system was that each