Nova Scotia

BRIDGEWATER AND LUNENBURG

Yet the Blue-nose is first and foremost a fisherman.

When all is said of Nova Scotia’s varied resources of farm and factory, and mine and forest, there is still to be told the tale garnished with adventure of the great and abiding interest of the peninsula and the island—the Nova Scotian fisheries. Of a total population of half a million souls in this province, over 40,000 men are engaged in the fisheries. This will seem a stupendous and utterly unreasonable proportion until I explain that the occupations of fisherman and farmer, fisherman and forester, even fisherman and miner, overlap in many districts, giving rise to a curious combination of characteristics in the same individual, which I had previously noticed amongst the fishermen-miners-farmers of Newfoundland.

The sea-coast of the Maritime Provinces from the Bay of Fundy to the strait of Belle Isle measures some 5600 miles, or about double that of the United Kingdom. In this magnificent fishing field the Nova Scotian is lord paramount, although others have at various times sought to share them with him.

The total fisheries of Canada, the largest in the world, are valued to-day at $25,500,000, of which Nova Scotia’s share is $7,632,330, or nearly one-third of the whole. All along this extensive sea-coast, in the bays, and harbours, and inlets from Cape North to Cape Sable, for generations boats have been putting out, manned by hardy stalwart men who go to brave the perils of the deep, and there are many perils in these latitudes, besides much cold and privation, in order to reap a harvest of cod, lobster, mackerel, haddock, and herring.[19]

Besides manning their own craft, the Nova Scotians, like the Newfoundlander, mans the vessels of other countries, especially American and British. The bulk of the product goes to America, although for nearly a century an important market has been found in the West Indies and South America, while the trade with Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, and Portugal is increasing annually.

Under the proposed Reciprocity Agreement with the United States the fishing industry of the Province would have been vitally affected, to Nova Scotia’s advantage.

Schooners of about 100 tons burden carry off the men to the Bank fishery. When they reach the Banks—those great marine plateaux frequented by inexhaustible shoals of cod, the fishermen separate into dories, six to ten of which accompany each schooner. From each dory, which is about 15 feet long, two men, six trawls of say, 4000 hooks, making a total of about 40,000 hooks to a vessel. Far smaller crafts are in use, however, for the inshore fishery. One can see these boats, of from 20 to 60 feet over all, and manned by from two to ten men, at any port, using the dory and trawl, or the hand-line. But the familiar British otter trawl is not seen here at all, and trawls of any description are illegal in Canadian territorial waters.

Mackerel and herring are captured in nets moored near the shore. One sees little of drift-net fishing, although it is occasionally practised.

In the opinion of fishing experts the herring hereabouts are not only more abundant, but are a larger and better fish than those off the British coasts. Then there is the inland fishery, which yields chiefly smelts, salmon, trout, and eels, large quantities of which are sent in cold storage to all parts of Canada and America, a trade which offers great possibilities of expansion. This remark is true of the whole fishery—both in the actual catch and in the distribution. Improved methods are wanted, which means that more technical knowledge and more capital are wanted. A more progressive system is already here and there in operation. The employment of gasolene motor boats for inshore fishing makes the fishermen more independent of the weather, and hundreds of their boats may now be seen off the south-west shore.

Enormous numbers of lobsters are caught and canned, and exported by two hundred and twenty canning factories scattered up and down the coast. Their sale to the packers means the distribution of a great deal of cash among the fishermen of Western Nova Scotia, frequently running into hundreds of thousands of dollars. But in spite of all that is done, I find a general feeling that much more could be done in the way of catching and curing according to those scientific principles which prevail in Norway and Denmark, and also in the shipments of living lobsters to the States.

Few are aware that only in these Maritime Provinces of Canada and Newfoundland are lobsters procurable in sufficient quantities to make canning profitable. The catches of Norway, Scotland, Ireland, and America are not sufficient to supply the demands of the consumers for lobsters in the shell. Unhappily it cannot be said that the lobster industry as regards hatching, conservation, and canning is placed here on a very sound footing. In fact, unless a new style is adopted the lobster will be a diminishing crustacean.

A year or two ago at Ottawa, a Fishery Committee of the House of Commons was formed, and fishermen and packers from various sections of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island were summoned to Ottawa to give evidence, but little practical resulted.

While the catch of lobsters in the United States is not more than ten per cent. of the total catch of the world (Canada enjoys a catch fully eight times as great), the Fisheries Department of the States of Maine and Massachusetts have spent a very considerable sum in an effort to restore and restock their depleted waters with lobsters. The Dominion Marine and Fisheries Department, which is responsible for the care of the lobster fishery, have not expended nearly as much as they have in these two American States.

This condition ought to be changed if the permanence of a most productive branch of the fisheries of Eastern Canada is to be guaranteed.

Happily, the lobster catch last year was very successful to the fishermen and packers alike, and by the present regulations, whereby during a long close season the fishing is absolutely prohibited, the lobsters are protected and given a reasonable opportunity of natural propagation.

The oyster is little cultivated, and yet it is claimed for Nova Scotia that she has a larger cultivable area for oyster beds than many districts where it is a source of great profit, as for instance, Maryland, where as much as ten million bushels of bivalves have been extracted. Here a few thousand bushels are all that is forthcoming.

The truth is, the fisheries of Nova Scotia are only partially occupied, and are an inviting field for the investment of capital in enterprising hands. With its unexcelled position, with a population of as hardy and courageous men as are to be found anywhere, there is no reason why Nova Scotia in its fisheries should not rank even higher in point of production than it does now.

Speaking of oysters suggests pearls, and I was not surprised to hear that in the scallop oysters on these shores are found pearls of a fair quality. Numbers of the scallops may be found in Chester Basin, Lunenberg country, which, if collected in the right season, might be valuable and give employment to many in collecting and working. Several samples of pearl I saw seemed to me to compare favourably with those imported from abroad, and no doubt the scallop contains many valuable gems. Who knows, therefore, but that the pearl fishery may yet be carried on here in Nova Scotia as profitably as it is elsewhere?