Department of Fisheries
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eJr' DOMINION OF CANADA SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES SEVENTY-NINTH ANNUAL FISHERIES REPORT OF THE DOMINION FOR THE YEAR 1945-46 OTTAWA EDMOND CLOUTIER, C.M.G., B.A., L.Ph., PRINTER TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY CONTROLLER OF STATIONERY 1947 • ■ To His Excellency Field Marshal the Right Honourable Viscount Alexander of Tunis, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., C.S.I., D.S.O., LLD., A.D.C., Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of the Dominion of Canada MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY: I have the honour herewith, for the information of Your Excellency and the Parliament of Canada, to present the Sixteenth Annual Report of the Department of Fisheries, being the Seventy-ninth Annual Fisherie,s Report for the Dominion. have the honour to be, Your Excellency's most obedient servant, H. FRANCIS G. BRIDGES, ilfinister of Fisheries. DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES, Ottawa, October 1, 1946. 76757-1i CONTENTS PAGE DEPUTY MINISTER'S REPORT COVERING- Production and Export Business 7 International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission International Fisheries Commission 1.1 Pribilof Sealsk-in Receipts 13 Fishing Bounty 14 APPENDICES 1. Report of the Chief Supervisor of Fisheries, Western Division 15 2. Report of the Chief Supervisor of Fisheries, Eastern Division 42 3. Report of the Director of Fish Culture 47 4. Report of the Fisheries Engineer 80 5. Report on Oyster Culture 87 6. Report of the Canned Fish Inspection Labratory, Pacific 95 7. Report of the Canned Fish Inspection Labnatory, Atlantic 96 8. Department Financial Statement for the Year 1945-46 100 REPORT OF THE DEPUTY MINISTER To the Hon. H. FRANCIS G. BRIDGES, M.P., Minister of Fisheries. SIR,—Herewith I have the honour to submit the Sixteenth Annual Report of the Department of Fisheries, which is the Seventy-ninth Annual Report on the fisheries of Canada and covers the fiscal year 1945-46. Included in the report are the following appendices:— Reports of the Chief Supervisors of Fisheries Report on Fish Culture Repart of the Fisheries Engineer Report on Oyster Culture and the Further Development of Oyster Farming Reports on the Opera.tions of the Fish Inspection Laboratories, Atlantic and Pacific Financial Report of the Department. PRODUCTION AND EXPORT BUSINESS New high levels were reached in 1945 both in the value of Canada's fisheries production and the value of the products shipped abroad by the fishing industry. The catch was valued at more than $105,000,000 on the market, as against something over $89,400,000 in 1944, which itself had been a record making year. Fisheries products exported in 1945 were worth slightly more than $84,800,000, a total which represented an increase of $16,100,000 and more over the foreign trade done by the industry in the preceding year, and the 1944 total, too, had been well above the highest previous mark. The large 1945 figures reflect, of course, a continuation of peak demand for fish products, and the firm prices, which war-made conditions had created. This review does not purport to set out complete and detailed figures as to production for the past year. Annual fisheries statistics are prepared by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics and the Department of Fisheries, jointly, with the co-operation of provincial fisheries services in those parts of the country where the fisheries are under the administration of the provinces. Collection and revision and compilation of detailed data relating to all of the country's many commercial fisheries is never a brief task—a very large number of statistical schedules have to be dealt with—and it happens that at the moment of writing there are still some gaps in the 1945 record. In those circumstances no complete review of the results of the year's fishing and processing operations is possible. Full details of those results will be recorded in the annual printed statistical report, Fisheries Statistics of Canada, 1945. FIowever, it is at least to be said here that there was upward trend in dollar return from the fisheries generally in 1945. Here and there, of course, there was _an exception to the rule but the exceptions had the customary effect of emphasizing the general condition. In all the provinces save one, Saskatche- wan, the year's marketed value total was greater than it had been in 1944, and the one decrease was comparatively small. Sea fisheries and freshwater fisheries 8 DEPARTMENT OF • FISHERIES alike brought in more dollars than in the preceding year, though the former, being on a much greater scale than the others, naturally contributed the far larger part of the aggregate gain. British Columbia's salmon fishery, first among all of Canada's commercial fisheries in point of annual marketed value of production, yielded a much larger catch than in the year before, though perhaps it should be noted that, for some inexplicable reason, the 1944 run of Pacific salmon had been below average size. Canned salmon pack in the province was not far short of 1,740,000 cases, as compared with slightly less than 1,100,000 cases in the preced- ing sea,son. All told, the British Columbia salmon landings were worth more than $25,400,000 on the market. The herring and halibut fisheries, next to the salmon fishery in importance in British Columbia, also showed increases in catches and in marketed value. On the Atlantic coast such major fisheries as the cod and lobster fisheries had increased catches to their credit, and increased value of production. The cod fishermen, in particular, did well as regards gain in production volume but their fishery, of course, permits a greater intensification of fishing effort than could wisely be applied to the more limited lobster stocks. As a matter of fact, not only did the lobster and cod fisheries produce bigger catches but the catch figures were also satisfactory in most of the other Atlantic fisheries. The sardine fishery, however, a fishery of a considerable importance, was among the exceptions. The year's sardine landings, nearly all of them made in south- western New Brunswick, fell off quite sharply, and there was an accompanying decrease on the money side of roughly $500,000. In the freshwater areas of the country the whitefish is the normal leader among the commercial fish, both as regards aggregate volume and aggregate value of catch. In 1945, however, the nets did not take as large a quantity of whitefish as in 1944—something like 16,650,000 pounds as against 17,700,000. Nevertheless, catch decrease was offset by increased firmness of price and the whitefish were worth, all told, approximately $4,000,000 which meant a gain of $500,000. Incidentally, lessened whitefish landings in Saskatchewan explain the net decrease which occurred in the over-all marketed value return from the year's fishing operations in that province. The Saskatchewan fishermen again took more whitefish than the fishermen of any other province---the Manitoba men were second—but they had to be content with less satisfactory results than they had obtained in 1944. Export Trade: Making up the export total for the year, $84,800,000, were shipments to the United States to the amount of $53,057,000, to the United Kingdom $13,795,000, and to other parts of the world $17,948,000. (Round numbers have been used in all cases). By classifications of products the business was divided into $44,232,000 worth of fresh and frozen fish, canned fish to the amount of $23,865,000, cured fish (dried, pickled, smoked) valued at $11,790,000, oils totalling $4,575,000, and miscellaneous other products amounting to $337,000. There was dollar decrease in the exportation to the United Kingdom, as compared with the figures for 1944, but the drop of over $5,000,000 in that case was more than offset by a gain which exceeded $11,300,000 in the sales to the United States and an increase of 100 per cent in the business with remaining export markets. Shipments to these latter areas totalled nearly $17,950,000, as against less than $8,700,000 in the preceding year. The reduction in the business with Britain was mainly due to decrease in shipment of canned fish. Consider- able quantities of fish put up in the calendar year 1945 will enter into the 1946 export figures. REPORT OF THE DEPUTY MINISTER 9 The year's export business in fresh and frozen fish was mainly done, of course, with the neighbouring United States—$40,300,000 out of the $44,232,000 aggregate. Shipment across the border increased by roughly $12,500,000. There was a small gain in the trade with the United Kingdom. Sales outside of Britain and the United States were small. In the case of cured fish, too, more than half the business was with the United States, or $6,014,000. Britain, of course, is never a big buyer of products in this category. Countries other than the United States and Britain received cured fish valued at $5,700,000 and a little more. Export value of oils was a couple of hundred thousand dollars below the 1944 level but in the case of canned products there was a substantial better- ment, $2,600,000. As already indicated, the canned fish exportation to Britain showed reduction and so, too, did the business with the United States, though in the latter instance the decrease was not large. On the other hand, canned fish shipments to other countries more than doubled. The figures in this latter case were $11,400,000, and a little more, in 1945, as compared with $4,100,000 in 1944.