DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES,

• place
44
ing some time in September, that it would not injure the fishery and would be very
profitable to them. The river fishery of salmon and alewives was less than last year.
Owing to the very high water, poachers had no chance to put in eel wiors, so that
the young fish have met with no obstructions, and large quantities were seen coming
down the streams. Mr. Wilmot supplied the temporary hatchery at Tusket Falls
with a large quantity of salmon ova, which was sufficiently hatched out by Warden
ilatfield, and deposited in the rivers some time in June. A. salmon hatchery estab
lished on the river would be a great benefit, as salmon are generally taken at that
very early, when a high price is obtained. The fishway at Kemptville Gang
Mills was kept in good repair, and the fish are afforded a good passage. The one at
earleton requires improvement by carrying it a little farther into the pond, and it
is otherwise out of order, and will require fixing next year.
Overseer. (J. H. Robertson, of Yarmouth, says f—In submitting my report for
thit year I feel no apology is necessary in saying a few words about the sawdust
question, especially writing from a county so largely covered by lakes and rivers as
is the county of Yarmouth. Here we have miles of rivers, streams and lakes, and,
perhaps, it is no exaggeration to say, acres of sawdust in them. Let scientists settle
the question of the effect of sawdust on the health and happiness of the fish; the
fact remains that rapid running streams, which actually carry some of the sawdust
to the sea, are now shunned by gaspereaux and otheu fish: whether it is that the saw.-
dust frightens them away from the mouths of such rivers, or that some instinct tells
the fish that it is better for its health not to go among the sawdust) 1 cannot say.
'Ihe young gaspereaux and herring, it must be remembered, are in turn the food
for larger salt water fish, and just as the small fish keel) off from our shores so will
the shore deep sea fisheries decrease. This is the experience of people who have
been fishing all their lives off our shores. But suppose that the actual sawdust in the
water does no injury to the fish and that they rather like it. An important point in
• favor of a rigorous enforcement of the regulation against depositing sawdust in the
rivers is that the small lakes and coves are being filled up with alarming rapidity
A very large percentage of the total quantity of sawdust never finds its way to the
sea at all, but is caught in the eddies and still waters until becoming saturated with
water it sinks and becomes part of the bottom. Thus in the still waters of some of
our rivers in this county are veritable islands of sawdust and shingle shavings, mak.-
ing, at certain seasons of the year, navigation in boats and punts difficult. An ilins'
tration of this may be seen at Carleton Village, on one of the branches of the Tusket
River. The lake at this village is becoming filled up with water soaked sawdust,
I feel it roy duty to call attention to these facts, although my illustration is from a
district not in my jurisdiction, because mill owners will frequently point to sawdust
iloating off rapidly on a river and ask with a great flourish of triumph, "How can
that obstruct the rivers ?" Mill owners in this county are probably no worse than
elsewhere, but they do not wish to add to their expenses that of having to care for
their sawdust and other mill refuse. Their intert sts are in making all the profit
possible out of their mills, and if the interests of the fisherman thereby suffer it is
immaterial to them. The feeling among the millowners in this county is that saw.
dust does no harm to the fisheries. The conviction of those interested in the fisherfea
is that if sawdust continues in the waters the question will be settled very soon,
because there will be no fisheries. I must confess, so far as my observation goes,
the latter opinion is no exaggeration of the facts so far as this county is concerned.
Trap fishing this year has proved a failure; with the exception of a few none
will pay expenses. I would suggest the advisability of fixing some season for trap
fishing. On the shores of this county the practice is to set the traps shortly before
the time for the first run of mackerel (about &lay 1st) in the spring, and take them
up when the mackerel season on this shore is over, from July 15th to Aug. 1st. But
the license permits a trap fisherman to leave his trap down all summer, for herring;
if they do this, it will seriously interfere with the net fishermen at Sandford, who do
their largest business in the fall after the traps are taken up.