Scotland, cause great attention to be paid by the British Fishery Boards, to the enforcement of most stringent regulations for their preservation and increase. With reference to the preservation of Salmon, the Inspectors of the Irish Fisheries reported to the Board in 1846, as follows:-" In illustration of the benefits of a steady perseverance in a proper system, we may allude to the Foyle, where the produce has been raised from an average of 43 tons previous to 1823, to a steady produce of nearly 200 tons. including the Stake Weirs, in the Estuary, and very nearly to 300 tons, as we believe, in the year 1842." The Inspectors also mention the case of the small River of Newport, County Mayo, which was formerly exempt from "close season." In three years, after the Parliamentary Regulations were introduced and enforced, the produce of this River was raised from half a ton, or at the utmost, a ton every season, to eight tons of Salmon, and three tons of white Trout, for the season ending the third year.

The preservation and maintenance of the Salmon Fisheries of New Brunswick generally, is a subject well worthy of earnest attention. To prevent the destruction of the fish during the spawning season, and by improper modes of fishing, as also to provide for the passage of the fish up those Streams which they have formerly frequented, but from which they are now excluded by Mill Dams, some further enactments are absolutely necessary, and more efficient means are required for enforcing the provisions of the law. The most valuable River Fishery of the Province is in a fair way of being rendered valueless, or wholly destroyed; and as the Rivers are the natural nurseries of the Salmon, the fishery on the coast will, of course, be destroyed also.

Large quantities of Salmon are caught every season on the Labrador coast, in stake-nets placed at the mouths of Rivers, which empty into Bays and Harbours; these are split and salted in large tubs, and afterwards repacked in tierces of two hundred pounds each. A number of vessels, from Newfoundland and Canada, are engaged annually in this Fishery; but the American fishing vessels pursue it with great vigour and assiduity, and it is reported that of late years they have found it very profitable.

The quantities of pickled Salmon exported from Newfoundland in 1847, was 4,917 tierces, one half of which was the produce of the Salmon fishery on the coast of Labrador.

THE WHALE.

The extent to which the Whale Fishery is carried on, within the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, by vessels from Newfoundland, is very little known, nor is its value appreciated. The Jersey houses who have fishing establishments in Gaspé, also fit out vessels for this Fishery, which cruise about Anticosti, and the northern shore of the Saint Lawrence. Mr. MacGregor, in an official Report to the Board of Trade, thus describes this Fishery :-"The Whales caught within the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, are those called "humpbacks," which yield on an average about three tons of oil; some have been taken seventy feet long, which produced eight tons. The mode of taking them is somewhat different from that followed by the Greenland Fishers; and the Gaspé fisherman first acquired an acquaintance with it from the people of Nantucket. An active man, accustomed to boats and schooners, may become fully acquainted with everything connected with this Fishery in one season. The vessels adapted for this purpose, are schooners of seventy or eighty tons burthen, manned with a crew of eight men, including the master. Each schooner requires two boats, about twenty feet long, built narrow and sharp, and with pink sterns; and 220 fathoms of line are necessary to each boat, with spare harpoons and lances. The men row towards the Whale, and when they are very near, use paddles, which make less noise than oars. Whales are sometimes taken in fifteen minutes after they are struck with the harpoon. The Gaspé fishermen never go out in quest of them, until some of the smaller ones, which enter the Bay about the beginning of June, appear; these swim too fast to be easily har pooned, and are not besides, worth the trouble. The large Whales are taken off the entrance of the Gaspé Bay,on each side of the Island of Anticosti; and up the River Saint Lawrence as far as Bic."

Mr. Bouchette in his work on lower Canada, represents the Whale Fishery of the Gulf as meriting the attention of the Legis lature, and needing encouragement; by which, he says, the number of vessels employed would be considerably increased, and this important branch of business would be so effectually carried on by the hardy inhabitants of Gaspé, as to compete, in some de gree, if not rival, that of the Americans, who were, at the time Mr. Bouchette wrote, almost in exclusive enjoyment of it, and carried on their enterprising fisheries in the very mouths of the Bays and Harbours of Lower Canada.

Sir Richard Bonny castle, in his work, entitled "Newfoundland

in 1842," says, "the Coast and Gulf Whale Fishery is now being of much value to Newfoundland." Sir Richard states, that the vessels employed are large schooners, with crews of ten men each; that the fishery is pursued during the whole of the summer months along the Coast of Labrador, and in, and through, the Straits of Belleisle; and that Whales of all sizes are taken, from the smallest "finner," up to the largest Mysticetus, or great common Oil Whale of the Northern Ocean, which occasionally visits these regions.

It is believed that hitherto, no attempt has been made by the people of New Brunswick, to enter into this Whale Fishery; and it would be a very proper subject for inquiry, whether it might not be profitably conducted by New Brunswick vessels, and the active and enterprising Fishermen of the Bay of Chaleur, who are equally well placed for carrying it on, as their hardy comrades on the Gaspé side of the Bay.

THE SEAL.

As the capture of the Seal is always designated "Seal Fishery," and as it is blended with the other pursuits of the Fisherman, it may be proper to mention it here.

Five kinds of Seals are said to be found in the Northern Ocean; they bring forth their youug on the ice early in the Spring, and they float down upon it from the Polar Seas to Labrador, the Coast of Newfoundland, and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The two largest kinds are known as the Harp Seal, (Phoca groenlandica,) and the Hooded Seal, (Phoca leonina). The other three varieties are known as the "Square Flipper," the "Blue Seal," and the "Jar Seal."

Large herds of these Seals are found together upon the fields of floating ice, which, when so occupied, are called "Seal Meadows." The Seal Hunters endeavour to surprise then while sleeping on the ice, and when this occurs they dispatch the young with bludgeons; the old ones which will frequently turn and make resistance, they are obliged to shoot.

Sealing is carried on very extensively from Newfoundland in schooners of about eighty tons burthen, with crews of thirty men. It is attended with fearful dangers; yet the hardy Seal Hunter of Newfoundland, eagerly courts the perilous adventure.

The following Return of the number of Seal Skins exported from Newfoundland from 1831 to 1848 inclusive, will furnish some idea of the value of the Seal Fishery to that Colony :

The outfit for the "Seal Fishery" from the various Harbours of Newfoundland in the year 1847, was as follows:

Sealing among the ice, is also prosecuted, in early spring, at the Magdalen Islands; and also on the Labrador Coast, by the people who remain there during the winter in charge of the Fishing Stations, and the conduct of the Fur Trade. Seals are also caught at Labrador on the plan first adopted, by strong nets set across such narrow channels as they are in the habit of passing through.

Within a few years, theSeal Fishery " has been commenced at Cape Breton, encouraged by a small Provincial bounty; it has been conducted in vessels not over 40 tons burthen, with crews of eight men. In 1843, twenty-two vessels went to the ice from Cheticamp and Margaree, and returned with near 10,000 Seals, which are stated to have amply requited those engaged in the adventure, as their outfit was on a very limited scale. In 1842,

an enterprising Merchant of Sydney fitted out a Sealing vessel, on the Newfoundland scale, which in the short space of three weeks cleared the round sum of £14,000; and this extraordinary success encouraged others to enter into the business.

As yet, Sealing is altogether unknown to the inhabitants of New Brunswick; although it is believed that the adventure might be made successfully, by vessels departing from the north eastern extremity of the Province.

The Harbour Seal (Phoca vitulina) is frequently seen along the coasts of New Brunswick during the summer season, and is believed not to be migratory. They are closely watched by the Micmac Indians, who often succeed in shooting them. The fur of these Seals is sometimes very handsome; and the animal is always a rich prize to the poor Micmac.

SHELL FISH.

Under this head may be enumerated Lobsters, Oysters, Clams, Mussels, Whelks, Razor-fish, Crabs, and Shrimps, all of which are found in the Gulf, in the greatest abundance, and of excellent

quality. Mr. MacGregor states, that they are all equally delicious with those taken on English, Irish, Scotch, or Norwegian Shores. Lobsters are found everywhere on the coast, and in the Bay of Chaleur, in such extraordinary numbers, that they are used by thousands to manure the land. At Shippagan and Caraquette, carts are sometimes driven down to the beaches at low water, and readily filled with Lobsters left in the shallow pools by the recession of the tide. Every potato field near the places mentioned, is strewn with Lobster shells, each potato hill being furnished with two, and perhaps three, Lobsters.

Within a few years, one establishment has been set up on Portage Island, at the mouth of the Miramichi River, and another at the mouth of the Kouchibouguac River, for putting up Lobsters, in tin cases, hermetically sealed for exportation. In 1845, no less than 13,000 cases of Lobsters and Salmon were thus put up at Portage Island. In 1847, nearly 10,000 cases of Lobsters only, each case containing the choicest parts of two or three Lobsters, and one and a half tons of fresh Salmon, in 2b and 4b cases, were put up at Kouchibouguac. The preservation of Lobsters, in this manner, need only be restricted by the demand, for the supply is almost unlimited.

The price paid for Lobsters at the establishment on Portage Island when the writer visited it, was two shillings and six pence currency (two shillings sterling) per hundred. They were all taken in small hoop-nets, chiefly by the Acadian French of the Neguac Villages, who, at the price stated, could with reasonable diligence, earn one pound each in the twenty four hours; but as they are somewhat idle, and easily contented, they would rarely exert themselves to earn more than ten shillings per day, which they could generally obtain by eight or ten hours attention to their hoop-nets.

Oysters are found all along the New Brunswick Coast, from Baie Verte to Caraquette, but not within the Bay of Chaleur. Those best known in this Province for their fine quality, are the Oysters of Shediac; but the extensive beds which formerly existed there, have been almost wholly destroyed by improper modes of fishing, an utter disregard of the spawning season, and the wanton destruction of the fish by throwing down shells upon the beds. It is a singular fact, that ice will not form over an Oyster bed, unless the cold is very intense indeed; and when the Bays are frozen over in the winter, the Oyster beds are easily discovered by the water above them remaining unfrozen, or as the French residents say,