If, owing to the superficial extent, and, no less, the coldness and purity of the marine waters of Canada, as well as the abundance of natural food, upon which cod, mackerel, halibut, herring, etc., subsist, the sea fisheries rank amongst the best in the world, it may be said of the fresh-water fisheries that they are hardly inferior in these characteristics. The total area of the fresh waters of the Do minion (lakes and rivers) is estimated at 140,000 square miles. From a fishers' point of view the lake systems of Canada may be arranged under five principal heads, namely: Five Lake Systems.-1. The maritime lakes, embracing the numerous lakes of Labrador, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. Certain of these, notably Lake Saint John, Quebec (366 square miles), and the Chamcook Lakes, N. B., are famous for land-locked salmon, so prized for their unique game qualities. Black bass, pickerel or dore, lake trout, red and speckled trout abound in these waters, while Clear Lake, Little Seal, Mistassini and most of the northern lakes swarm with whitefish and sub-arctic vari eties of trout.
2. The central lake system, including the Great Lakes (76,562 square miles in total area) and innumerable subsidiary lakes, all utilized for commercial purposes and for sport. The areas and maximum depths of the more im portant of these lakes are as follows: Superior, 31,200 square miles, 160 fathoms deep; Huron, 23,800 square miles, 145 fathoms deep; Erie, 10,030 square miles, 35 fathoms deep; Ontario, 7,330 square miles, 123 fathoms deep; Lake Nepigon, 1,450 square miles; Lakes Saint Clair and Simcoe, 300 square miles each.
3. The Manitoba and Keewatin system, the principal waters of which are Lake Winnipeg, 9,400 square miles; Lake Winnipegosis, 2,030 square miles; Lake Manitoba, 1,900 square miles; and Lake of the Woods, 1,500 square miles; and in these waters enormous fishing operations are carried on for whitefish, pickerel or dore, sturgeon, pike, etc.
4. The Athabasca and Mackenzie system, extending from Reindeer Lake to Great Bear Lake, the latter lake no less than 11,200 square miles in area, while Great Slave Lake is 10,100 square miles, and others are: Athabasca 4,400 square miles; Reindeer Lake, 4,000 square miles; Woolaston and Doobount lakes, each over 2,000 square miles in extent. These waters have been little fished, excepting by In dians, Hudson's Bay Company employees and the like, but being prolific in whitefish, sturgeon, etc., the development of great commercial fish eries in the near future is assured.
5. The Pacific Interior system from Lakes Labarge and Atlin to Shuswap Lake, and the Kootenay, Arrow and Okanagan lakes near the United States boundary. None of the lakes
in this western series are comparable in area to the vast inland seas referred to above; but such waters as Babine Lake (250 or 300 square miles) at the head of the Skeena River, and Stuart Lalce and Quesnelle lakes (respectively 100 and 750 square miles in area) at the head of the Fraser River, have an importance wholly disproportionate to their size, owing to the fact that their creeks and tributary streams are the great spawning resorts of various species of Pacific salmon. Whitefish, lake-trout, Pacific trout of various species and grayling occur in these waters.
Rivers of Fisheries are also con ducted upon the rivers, which almost without exception are abundantly supplied with the most esteemed fishes. Apart from a great stream like the river Saint Lawrence, whose drainage area is estimated to be 367,000 square miles, there are rivers, like the Mackenzie (2,400 miles long); the Great Saskatchewan (1,900 miles) ; the Churchill and Black rivers (each 1,500 miles) the Fraser (750 miles long and draining 100,000 square miles) ' • the Red River (600 miles), and others like the Peace, Nelson, Albany, Great Whale, Skeena (300 miles) ; Ottawa (600 miles) ; Saint John (500 miles). Restigouche, Saguenay and Miramichi; all of which are great rivers, presenting for the most part unsur passed scenic grandeur, and affording notable sport and extensive commercial fishing. It would indeed be difficult to parallel the Fraser River, with its incredible multitudes of sal mon, while the Restigonche and other famous angling rivers emptying into the Atlantic Ocean have no peers in the annals of sport. as Professor Elwyn said, is the paradise of the Minor Fisheries, Oysters, Smelts, etc.— The shores of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and parts of Nova Scotia furnish oysters of unequalled flavor and comestible qualities. Owing to over-fishing and inade quate protection the yield has seriously de dined from 70,000 or 80,000 barrels per annum to half that quantity, valued at about $180,000 yearly. On the other hand, such an industry as the smelt fishery, mainly carried on through the ice in December and the early months of the year, has grown from $117000 in 1881 to over $800,000 in value. These dainty fish, for merly used as fertilizing material on farm lands, are now shipped, four or five thousand tons per season, in a frozen condition, mainly to the United States markets. The estuaries of the Miramichi, Restigouche and other New Brunswick rivers are the centres of this re markable fishery.