Department of Fisheries
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DOMINION OF CANADA ELevENII-i'-:- - ANNUAL?i-RePORT c;5- OF THÉ: DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES SEVENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL FISHERIES REPORT OF THE DOMINION FOR THE YEAR 1940-41 OTTAWA EDMOND CLOUTIER PRINTER TO TIIE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY 1941 , 1 C. 0 t. cy> • - CONTeNIS' DEPITTY MINISTER'S REPORT COVERING- PAGE Results of Commercial Fishing Operations in the Calendar Year 1940 5 Dried Fish Production 9 Export Trade in Fisheries Products 10 Canned Lobster Control 12 Fur Seal R,eturn 14 Fish Culture 15 Fishing Bounty 15 Pacific Salmon Commission 16 International Fisheries Commission 17 APPENDICES 1. Report of the Chief Supervisor of Fisheries for the Eastern Division 20 2. Report of the Chief Supervisor of Fisheries for the Western Division 39 3. Report of the Fisheries Engineer 70 4. Report on Oyster Culture 79 5. Report on Canned Salmon Inspection 91 6. A Statement of Fisheries Revenue and Expenditure for the Fiscal Year 194041 and a Summary of Revenue and Expenditure According to Provinces for the period 1867 to 1940-41 102 7. A Statement Showing the Number of Lobster Fishing Licences issued each year since 1936 111 8. A Statement Showing the Number of Fisheries Licences issued in 1940-41 113 9. Report of the Fish Culture Branch of the Department 117 33168-1i To His Excellency Major-General the Right Honourable the Earl of Athlone, K.G., P.C., G.0 .B., G.IVI.M.G., G.C.V .0., D.S.O., A.D.C., Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of the Dominion of Canada. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY: I have the honour to submit herewith, for the information of Your Excellency and the Parliament of Canada, the Eleventh Annual Report of the Department of Fisheries, being the Seventy-fourth Annual Fisheries Report for the Dominion. I have the honour to be, Your Excellency's most obedient servant, J. E. MICHAUD, Minister of Fisheries. DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES, OTTAWA, April 7, 1941. DEPUTY MINISTER'S REPORT To the Hon. J. E. MICHAUD, M.P., Minister of Fisheries. have the honour to submit the eleventh Annual Report of the Depart- ment of Fisheries, which covers the fiscal year 1940-41. It is the seventy-fourth Annual Report on the fisheries of Canada. In addition to reference to results of commercial fishing operations in the Dominion in the calendar year 1940, it includes references to various subjects related to the work of the department and the fishing industry-. Appendices to the report give information in detail regarding a number of branches of departmental work and related activities for the year. Included in these appendices are:— Reports of the Chief Supervisors of Fisheries. • Report on the Department's Fish Culture Work. Report of the Fisheries Engineer. Report on Oyster Culture. Report on Canned Salmon Inspection and Preliminary Work on the Inspection of Canned Herring. Departmental Financial Statement. Statement showing the number of Lobster Fishing Licences issued for a period of years. Statement showing the numbers and kinds of Fishing Licences issued during 1940-41. REVIEW OF FISHERIES RESULTS FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 1940 Total marketed value of Canada's commercial fisheries production in 1940 was $45,118,757, or slightly more than $5,000,000 above the total for 1939. From the standpoint of marketed value return the year was the most successful in the Dominion's fisheries since 1930. The landings of fish and shellfish during the year amounted nearly to 12,160,000 hundredweights, as compared with 10,645,900 hundredweights, roundly stated, in 1939. Sea fisheries catch, a little more than 11,368,100 hundredweights, was valued on the market at $38,910,058 and the fresh water fish taken, about 791,740 hundredweights, was worth $6,208,699. The fresh water fisheries showed an increase of only about $105,000 in marketed value, as compared with 1939 value, but in the case of the sea fisheries the increase was almost $4,938,000. In British Columbia there was a gain of slightly more than $4,000,000 and an increase of about $1,090,000 in the Nova Scotia returns. There was a gain of some $300,000 in Manitoba and there were small gains in Ontario, Alberta and the Yukon Territory. Elsewhere marketed value decreased, though nowhere very greatly. Major Fisheries.—The salmon fishery continues to hold first place in 1940 although the catch, slightly less than 1,458,000 hundredweights, showed a decrease of approximately- 44,000 hundredweights from the landings of 1939. Notwithstanding reduction in catch, there was an increase of more than three- quarters of a million dollars in the marketed value return from the fishery. The 5 6 DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES value of the 1940 catch on the market was $14,168,000 roundly stated. Although salmon are taken on both coasts of the Dominion the big catch is always from British Columbia waters. The Pacific coast landings during the year were 1,431,900 hundredweights with a marketed value of nearly $13,757,100; on the catch side there -svas a decrease of about 44,500 hundredweights but the value increased by more than $762,000. In the Atlantic area landings were a little more than 26,000 hundredweights, about 800 hundredweights more than in the preceding year but the marketed value $410,900 showed a small decrease. In some years prior to 1940 the lobster fishery had ranked second only to the salmon fishery in importance, rated according to marketed value return. In 1940, however, both the herring and cod fisheries went ahead of the lobster fishery. The value of the lobster catch on the market, using round figures as in most cases in this review, was $3,187,600—a decrease of about $595,000 from the 1939 total—but the herring production exceeded in value $6,058,600 and the cod catch was vv-orth $4,984,500. In the case of herring the increase on the value side, as compared with the 1939 'total, was $2,544,000. The gain was almost wholly due to the great expansion of herring • canning operations in British Columbia where, in order to help Great Britain in maintaining wartime food stocks, the herring industry has been enormously expanded since the •outbreak of hostilities. The Atlantic coast landings of herring increased by a little more than 100,000 hundredweights but hi British Columbia there was a catch of 3,395,000 hundredweights or an increase of about 1,230,200 hundredweights. The total catch of herring on the two coasts was 4,650,300 hundredweights. The cod catch amounted to 1,932,900 hundredweights, all of it save 16,600 hundred- weights taken in the Atlantic waters, and its marketed value was, as already stated, $4,984,500. On the catch side there was an increase of nearly 300,000 hundredweights and in the case of marketed value the gain was $1,750,000. Whitefish continued in first place among the fresh-water species so far as value and catch was concerned. The landings of whitefish, 168,200 hundred- weights, were several thousand hundredweights greater than they had been in 1939 and this production gain, plus firmer prices, brought the marketed value to more than $1,928,800 or $206,500 above the preceding year's figures. In addition to the fisheries already named several others yielded catches in 1940 which were worth more than a million dollars on the market. Among those in this group were the sardine fishery ($1,884,200); the halibut fishery ($1,859,300) ; and the haddock fishery ($1,443,700). Details of statistics relating to 1940 fisheries operations will be found, of course, in the statistical report bearing the title, " Fisheries Statistics of Canada, 1940". Capital Investinent and Employment.—Plants and equipment, boats, vessels and gear in use in the fisheries during 1940 represented a capital investment of slightly less than $49,478,000, or about $2,154,000 more than in 1939. Investment was greater than in any year since 1930. The total number of persons employed in the fishing industry during the year exceeded 83,800, but was about 100 less than in the preceding year—a condition mainly due no doubt to enlistments from the fishing communities in Canada's armed services and to the growing demand for workers in war industries. The number of fishermen was 68,817 and the number of persons employed in processing plants was 15,038. Of the fishermen, 54,816 were at work in the sea fisheries and 14,001 in the fresh water fisheries. Of the total investment of $49,478,000, nearly $26,219,700 was invested in vessels, boats, gear, etc., and the remainder, or about $23,228,000, was the capital represented by processing plants. REPORT OF THE DEPUTY MINISTER 7 Production by Provinces.—Table 1, below, shows the marketed value of the 1940 production by provinces, together with the like figures for each of the three preceding years. In table 2 the marketed value figures for the sea fisheries and inland or fresh water fisheries, respectively, for 1940 are given. TABLE I.—MARKETED VALUE BY PROVINCES ---- 1940 1939 1938 1937 $ S S S Nova Scotia 9,843,326 8,753,548 8,804,231 9,229,834 New Brunswick 4,965,618 5,082,393 3,996,064 4,447,688 Prince FklwardIsland 714,870 950,412 930,874 870,299 Quebec • 2,002,053 2,010,953 1,957,279 1,892,036 Ontario 3,035,100 3,010,252 3,353,775 3,615,666 Manitoba 1,988,545 1,655,273 1,811,124 1,796,012 Saskatchewan 403,510 478,511 468,646 527,199 Alberta 450,574 430,724 492,943 433,354 British Columbia 21,710,167 17,698,989 18,672,750 16,155,439 Yukon 4,994 4,867 5,290 8,767 Totals 45,118,757 40,075,922 40,492,976 38,976,294 TABLE II — Sea Inland Totals S $ S Nova Scotia 9,843,326 9,843,326 New Brunswick 4,939,962 25,656 4,965,618 Prince Edward Island 714,870 714,870 Quebec 1,701,733 300,320 2,002,053 Ontario 3,035,100 3,035,100 Manitoba 1,988,545 1,988,545 Saskatchewan 403,510 403,510 Alberta 450,574 450,574 British Columbia 21,710,167 21,710,167 Yukon 4,994 4,994 Totals 38,910,058 6,208,699 45,118,757 SEA FISHERIES RESULTS The following table shows, by provinces, the total commercial production of sea fish and shellfish during each of the calendar years 1940-1939:— 1910 1939 lbs.