The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-01-30
YEAR'SCOD CATCH
IS VERY MEAGRE
Fishing Banks Fail ST. Pierre
Fleet, and 1t Will Be
Reduced.

New York, January - -Fishermen
on the Newfoundland BANKS are dis-
oouragsd by the results Of 1917, ana the
prospect for the 1918 season Is 80 unin-
viting that Consul John x. baxter
at st. Pierre, believes that not more tnah
twenty five schooners VIII be ntted CUT
| from St. Pierre this year, cohpaieo
with forty schooners in 1912
The total catch Of cod by the ~
Pierre feet last year was only l.4is'Sos'
representing loss. Mr.. Baxter thinhs'
of not less than from Si,9o 20 S.u1
vessel The prices were higher than
usual. il was true, but NOT hish ehous"
to balance the small catch.
Various causes are alleged in ex-
PLANTATION of tho decline OF the -. fierfe
fleet" Mr.. Baxter says. -Four sue
cessive improbable seasons-l9S, l~4
1905. and ls06-ruined many small own
ers and impaired the general resources
of the colony; supplies are relatively
expensive at 81. Pierre and labor i
scarce, crews must be brought out from
France in the spring and returned az
the close of the season. for the local
fishermen prefer 20 work the inshore
grounds independently in their own
dories.
There were 757 dory fishermen at
St Pierre this season. working near the
shore and coming in every night, an
increase of seVent y-seven over the num-
Der reported last year. They did wei
during the spring and early summer
but later on they We're hampered ny !"
scarcity of squid and by the weather
The statistics Of their catch OF cod had
not been compiled oil Novemb Der %.
but il is the general impression that,
while the total catch was mediocre,
(25 900 70 10000 hundred weight, the
average price for green shore Goa
about s3i5) was high enough to give
l.T
fishermen also caught 3.ls6 hogsheads OF
caplin. which was sold for bait az prices
ranging from 81 to IS a hogshead.
"Of late years a number of steam
trawlers have reinforced the metro
politan feet of sailing vessels The
French first tried this method of fish
ing in Newfoundland waters IN 1903
and 1904, with unsatisfactory results
No trawlers arS 10 entioned in the official
reports for 1905 and 1906. In 1907. four
of these vessels resumed the experiment.
In 1905, there were eleven. and their
catch averaged l2l hundredweight a
day. This was so encouraging that
thirty trawlers came out in 1909. The
catch that year was poor In 1910,
the number Of trawlers dropped 10 ten,
and the catch was about half what 1t
had been in the banner year, 1905.
Partly owing TO this. and partly because
of the extraordinary abundance of
fish in Iceland, only seven trawlers
came out in 1911
In 1912 there were fourteen French
steam trawlers averaging S02 tons gross
operating on the Banks. One of them
was wrecked early in the season on
the coast of Niquelon. The total
catch of the remaining thirteen is
not known, but they delivered at st.
Pierre 80 .s6S green Quintals This
would amount to an average of 1905 hun
col az -ffr nrlf
prices about sf3. 0OO. The cost of operating
a trawler is stated in one of the Of
fetal reports TO be OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES per
diem. If this is correct, one of these
vessels. spending four months on ~
Banks and in transit, would consuua,
sI3 500. When il is considered that, -
addition to the fish discharged at st.
Pierre for transshipment, probably all
of the trawlers carried back a cargo OF
fish to France. IT may be safely assum-
ed that they made reasonable pro-
a. on the season
practically all OF the catch is now
landed in France 'green-that Is,
cleaned and saited-and is subsequent
" dried or otherwise prepared for con
sumption Bordeaux is the principal
port of entry, and handles more than
half of the total catch Roughly
speaking. one-half Of the catch Is con-
sumed in France. from which foreign
cod is excluded by "A duty OF four and
two-tenths cents minimum to five and
twenty I'VE hundredths cents general
per pound: one-ffth II exported TO
French colonies. whore 1t Is also pro
tectcd by import duties, and the re-
naming three-tenths is exported TO
foreign countries. principally Spain
and Italy Besides protecting native
fishermen in the home and colonla,
markets the French government pay,
the owners Of fishing essevls a boun9y
of $50 for each man shipped for the
season in Newfoundland waters and
encourages exports of dried cod TO the
colonies and to foreign countries by
bounties OF which the maximum rate Is
one and three-quarters cents per pound