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The fishing grounds of
Inverness County are excelled nowhere. They extend from end to end of the
County. Owing to the bold, uneven, character of the coast, and the absence
of good harbors, the prosecution of our fisheries is laborious and
difficult. The industry is carried on chiefly by longshore-men with small
sized boats. Many of the men who engage in these fisheries are, also,
farmers, who must divide the working season between the two callings. The
mining and other industrial activities of the last two decades have drawn
away from the farms large numbers of our young men. The comparatively few
hands who are now left on the farms cannot devote much time to fishing. On
this ice-frequented side of Cape Breton Island the fishing season is not
longer than four months.
Even under such unfavorable
circumstances, the spoils of the sea constitute a large part of the wealth
of this county. We take the following facts and figures from the Dominion
Statistics of 1917. We give only the different kinds of fish, and the
value of what was marketed that year, leaving out of calculation what was
used for home consumption:
"Alewives, $1,370; Cod,
$196,775; Smoked fillets, $22,776; Fish oils, $4,557; Haddock, $154,814;
Hake and Fillets, $29,403; Halibut, $7,470; Herring $34,914; Lobsters
$107,278; Mackerel, $176,610; Oysters, $2,760; Salmon, $22,212; Pollock,
$15,000; Smelts, $3,100; Soles, $1,180; Squid $4,800; Total value
$784,936." That is quite a side of fish for one county, but it could be
very much enlarged.
Under authority of "An Act
to encourage the development of the Sea Fisheries and the building of
fishing vessels," the sum of $160,000, is paid annually by the federal
government to the fishermen of the Eastern Maritime Provinces.
For the year 1917 payment
was made on the following basis:
To owners of vessels
entitled to bounty; $1. per regtd. ton:
Payment to owner of any one vessel not to exceed $80:
To vessel fishermen entitled to bounty, $6.30 each:
To owners of boats measuring not less than 13 it. keel, $1. per boat:
To boat fishermen entitled to bounty $3.85 each.
We acknowledge, at once,
that the policy of thus assisting a daring and deserving class is a wise
and considerate policy. We are only too keenly conscious of the
extraordinary strain which an unexampled world crisis now puts upon the
governments of all nations. In such gripping times as these, the people
should not ask anything of the State, except what is strictly essential to
honest, decent livelihood.
But the position of the
fishermen of Inverness is one of peculiar hardship. Larger craft is needed
here for the service of the sea. The fishermen, themselves, could provide
larger boats or small vessels but there would be no accommodation or
protection for such on these inhospitable shores. The principal fishing
stations are, Port Hawkesbury and Port Hastings; Creignish and Long
Point`, Judique and Port Hood; Mabou and Inverness; Broad Cove Marsh and
Margaree; Grand Etang, Cheticamp and Pleasant Bay. The last three named,
as well as Port Hood, Port Hastings and Port Hawkesbury, already possess
reasonable facilities for their fishing industry. All the other stations
are woefully lacking in such facilities. At Margaree, Inverness and Mabou,
useful harbours for large boats and small vessels could be made at a
moderate cost. There ought to be a standing fleet of such craft at each of
those three stations. Broad Cove Marsh, Judqiue and Long Point, require
adequate wharf and pier accommodations to enable their fishermen to put to
sea easily, and effect a landing safely, in ordinary wind and weather.
Common prudence would suggest that the Dominion Government should see to
these things.
We are aware that the state
is already overburdened. How is the burden to be removed? Give the people
a chance, and they will remove it. We know that we are passing through
severe trials; but it is these trials, properly used, that purify and
ennoble men and nations. In the present disconcerting situation, the only
safety for the state, the only hope for the people, is to assist in every
possible way the increased production of necessaries. |
