benefit at all to the parties who asked for them. When an extension is asked and the season is lengthened it often results in fishing operations being continued after the stormy season has begun, entailing great loss of gear, and certainly a waste of considerable catches of fish. The seasons specified in the regulations should, in our opinion, be very strictly and closely adhered to, both in the interests of the fish supply and in the interests of the parties who are engaged in the fish industry.

lations De

sirable

As we have pointed out in the body of our report, the existNew Regu- ing regulations cover not only the province of Manitoba, but the very different waters of Saskatchewan and Alberta where the conditions are wholly unlike those of the Manitoba waters. Hence, a totally revised set of regulations is necessary, and, as we understand that a new set of regulations is being prepared especially for the more western provinces, be beg to recommend the following series of revised regulations for waters which we were commissioned to investigate and report upon. It will be noticed in this code of regulations which we suggest, that a number of provisions are dropped altogether which have long formed part of the Manitoba regulations, but the time has come for a thorough revision, and we, therefore, beg to recommend the following provisions as suited to the present requirements of the fisheries in question.

GENERAL

"(1) Fishing by means of nets or other apparatus without license or permit from the Minister of Marine and Fisheries is prohibited in the waters of Manitoba and the District of Keewatin.

"(2) No license shall be granted to any person unless he is a British subject, resident in the Dominion of Canada, and the actual owner of nets, boats and fishing gear for which the license is granted. Applications from residents living in the immediate locality of the waters applied for shall have the preference in the granting of licenses.

"(3) Any resident settler, including Indian, is eligible for an annual fishing permit to fish not more than one hundred (100) yards of gill-net for domestic use, but not for sale or barter. Such permit shall be issued free, and fishing under it shall be permissible at all times.

"(4) No license shall be transferable unless by special permission obtained from the District Inspector of Fisheries.

(5) Every person holding a fishing license or permit shall, at the end of the fishing season, make a sworn return of his total catch of fish to the fishery inspector by whom the license or permit was issued.

"NOTE.-As there are two important fishing seasons, namely, the summer fishing season and the fall and winter fishing season, these returns should be made twice a year, namely, on or before September 30, for the preceding summer fishing, and March 31, for the preceding fall and winter fishing.

"(6) All boats, buoys and nets shall be legibly numbered, by means of tags or otherwise. Boats shall have their number painted

in black on a white ground on either side of the bow, the figure or figures to be not less than 6 inches in height and the numbers on the buoys shall be so placed as to be readily seen without raising them from the water, and the numbered tags on the nets shall be so attached as to be visible when the nets are in boxes or on the net reel. The numbers for all such boats, buoys, and nets shall be furnished by the Inspector of Fisheries for the District at the time of the issue of the license.

"(7) Not more net shall be used or operated under any net license than is specified in the said license, and such net shall not be used or operated by any person other than by the licensee or person in whose name the license is issued.

'(8) Every person or firm buying fish from fishermen, or handling fish after capture by fishermen, shall make a true affidavit on or before March 31, of each year for the fall-caught and winter-caught fish, and on or before September 30, for summer-caught fish, such sworn return or affidavit to specify the kinds of fish bought or handled by such person or firm, and to state the exact quantities of each respective kind of fish purchased from the fishermen, such affidavits to be mailed to the Inspector of Fisheries on or before the dates named above.

"(9) Angler's permits. (The General Fishery Regulations dated October 14, 1907, which have hitherto applied to the Manitoba waters and to Dominion waters generally should continue to apply in the province of Manitoba)."

In addition, a number of special recommendations have been made, dealing chiefly with close seasons, the nature of the nets that may be used in different waters, and other more or less technical matters.

THE FISHERIES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA"

The fisheries of this Province are exceedingly rich and are almost unlimited in promise. Although the fishing industry may be said to be now only in its infancy, the growth and development have been truly remarkable during the past few years. To a careful observer, however, this will appear small and insignificant in comparison with that which may be done along the same line in future years.

The province of British Columbia has a sea washed shore of 7,000 miles, with countless islands, bays and fiords forming safe and easily accessible harbours. Along this portion of the Pacific coast, and within the limits of territorial waters, there are fish and mammals in great abundance, while, apart from this immense salt water fishing area, there are, in the numerous lakes of the Province, no less than 220,000 square miles of fresh water, affording the finest possible habitation for many kinds of valuable food-fishes.

Very little has been done, comparatively speaking, for the fisheries of British Columbia as a whole, and their importance claims the closer attention of the Government. On the Atlantic such valuable assistance as the erection and maintenance of bait-freezing establishments, and the granting of bounties, has been extended. It would seem that the need of encouragement is especially manifest on the Pacific, since there the demand for labour of all kinds is so great and other less precarious employments are so inviting. A great deal might be done, by means of special inducements, towards the upbuilding of the fishing industry here.

The Salmon
Fishery

Of all the many branches of the fishing industry in British Columbia, the canning and packing of salmon yet remains facile princeps, and it is to be hoped, and may with reason be expected, that a continued plenitude of this valuable fish may be ensured by careful methods of conservation, by artificial propagation on a large scale and by the combined efforts of the Government and of the cannery men. All who are connected with, or interested in, the salmon industry fully realize that a plentiful future supply can be rendered a certainty only by the rigid enforcement of close season regulations, together with the operation of hatcheries on an extensive scale; for all are aware that unless a sufficient number of fish are permitted each year to reach the spawning grounds, the time will assuredly come when the sources of supply will have become depleted. This is particularly true of the sockeye salmon.

aThis article was kindly contributed by the Attorney General's Department, British Columbia.

The former suicidal ideas maintained by many cannery men, both on the Canadian and American side of the international boundary, that the salmon business could not be permanent, and therefore, that every available sockeye should be intercepted and put into a can, are becoming greatly modified, if not altogether dispelled. There is great hope, therefore, that a satisfactory joint system of close season regulations may be adopted by the canners on the Fraser and those on the other side of the line-all working in unison towards a common end: the saving of the salmon industry. This would, indeed, be a "consummation devoutly to be wished."

A similarly satisfactory outlook for the future is now apparent in the other salmon districts of the Province; for this year (1910) a Special Boat-Rating Commission was appointed by the Minister of Marine and Fisheries at Ottawa with instructions thoroughly to investigate conditions in the northern districts, and to recommend an award of boats to be allotted to each division and to each individual cannery. This Commission consisted of men thoroughly acquainted with fishery affairs and eminently qualified for the duty entrusted to them. The results of previous efforts in this direction on the part of the canners themselves-all alive to the vital necessity of a limitation of boats-have been far from satisfactory. This fact led to a rating by the Provincial Government and, later, to the appointment, by the Dominion Government, of the above-mentioned Commission, to make an award of boats for a period of years. The cannery men, weary of constant cavilling and dispute, welcome the promise of some definite settlement and, while it is unlikely that the award of this year's Boat-Rating Commission will be satisfactory to all, yet it would seem to be the introduction of a system by which the canners will better realize their position for the future, and by which the stocking of the spawning-beds each year will be rendered more certain.

There are, in the waters of British Columbia, the five known species of the genus oncorhynchus, termed the Pacific salmon. They are distinct from the salmon of the Atlantic, which are of the genus salmo. Structurally these fish are only slightly different, but their life history is totally dissimilar, and they are distinctly and positively placed. The greatest difference is presented in the fact that both sexes of all the species found in Pacific waters die shortly after spawning once. This remarkable characteristic, when for the first time brought to the attention of some Atlantic and European authorities, was discredited, as they did not then generally know that the Pacific salmon was different from the salmo salar, which, after spawning, does not die, but generally returns to salt water. Thus, while the Pacific fish are not salmon in a scientific sense, they are now the salmon of the world, because of their abundance and their fine canning qualities.

The five species of Pacific salmon, in the order of their commercial importance, are as follows:

(1) The Sockeye, or Blueback (Oncorhynchus nerka).

(2) The Spring, or Quinnat (O. tschawytscha).

(3) The Coho, or Silver (O. kisutch).

(4) The Dog Salmon (O. keta).

(5) The Hump-back (0. gorbuscha).

SOCKEYE SALMON.-The sockeye run in all the mainland rivers, in some of the rivers of the west coast of Vancouver island, and in the Nimpkish river near the head of the east coast of that island. The abundance of this fish in the Fraser varies greatly with given years-known to the canners as the "big years" and the "poor years. Their movement appears to be greatest every fourth year and the run is poorer in the years immediately following. The causes which may have led up to this most remarkable feature have given rise to much speculation, and many theories have been advanced to account for them. None, however, are sufficiently satisfactory to be generally accepted. The periodicity in the run of sockeye, which is so pronounced in the Fraser, has no marked counterpart in any other river in the Province or on the coast.

The sockeye weighs from three to ten pounds, though specimens weighing seventeen pounds are recorded. The adults in salt water are free from spots, their backs are a clear blue and below the lateral line the colour is an immaculate white. In form and colour, they are considered the most beautiful of their family and the flesh is of a deep and unfailing red. They enter the Fraser river as early as April, but are not taken till July 1st and their capture is, by regulation, confined to nets of 5 inch mesh. The main run in the Fraser is looked for towards the latter part of July and is at its height during the first ten days of August.

The spawning period of the sockeye extends from August, in the headwaters, to as late as October and November in the waters nearest the sea, the spawning taking place in lake-fed or in lake-feeding streams.

Very little is known of the life of the young, or the length of time they live in fresh waters before seeking salt water, but the results of observations of late would tend to show that the seaward migration does not take place when the fish are of any one special age, since fry and yearlings have been noticed at the same time making their way towards the sea. Nothing is known of their feeding-grounds in salt water as they are never found in the bays and inlets which distinguish the coast and where the spring and coho are so common. It is thought that their feeding-ground must be in the open sea.

SPRING OR QUINNAT SALMON.-This class ranks second in importance