land and inlets for cleaning fish
and foul the water with their "gurry", and when they also "egg" on other
peoples' islands in defiance of the law, then the analogy is perfect. It
does not hold good, of course, in ordinary fishing, which is conducted
under Dominion licence and vigilantly watched by Commander Wakeham. But
whether Canada is not giving away too much for what she gets in licences
is quite another question.
The excessive spring kill by the Newfoundlanders does not seem to be the
only reason why the local seal hunt is not so good as it used to be. The
whites complain that the Indians along the coast kill an undue number of
seals on the one hand and of caribou on the other. But fishermen all the
world over are against the harbour seals; and generally exaggerate their
depredations, as they exaggerate the depredations of most kinds of
seabirds. Whatever the fate of the harbour seals should be, there can be
no doubt that the harps or Greenland seals, the bearded or
square-flippers, the grey or horseheads, and the gigantic and
magnificently game hoods, should all be put under conservation. I am
also inclined to think that the walrus could be coaxed back to what once
were some of his most favourite haunts. Just now he has no chance
whatever; and he is so extremely rare that the one I nearly rowed the
dinghy into last August, down at Whale Head East, was only the second
seen inside the Straits during the present century.
III. PLAN OF CONSERVATION FOR THE CANADIAN LABRADOR.
Whaling, sealing and deep-sea fishing are Dominion and international
affairs; and whaling, at all events, is soon to engage the attention of
statesmen, experts and the public--let us hope, to some good end. The
inland birds and mammals from the St. Lawrence to Ungava now come under
the Province of Quebec; though no effective protection has ever reached
the Canadian Labrador. Beyond this, again, lies the Atlantic Labrador,
which is entirely under Newfoundland. So I would suggest that the
Commission should try a five-year experiment in the conservation of
seabird life along the Canadian Labrador, because this would not come
into overlapping contact with any other exercised authority, because it
is bound to be successful, because it will only cost a sum that should
be had for the asking, because it is most urgently pressing, and because
it can be begun at once, to the lasting advantage of all concerned.
The "Canadian Labrador" is the l
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