the word Canadian in the sense just defined, it is safe to
say that Canadian waters contain a greater quantity of the principal
food fishes than those of any other country. The truth of this
statement depends on three facts. The first is that practically all
fish landed in Canada are caught in Canadian waters. This is a marked
contrast to what happens in the other great fishing countries, like the
United States, the British islands, Germany, Norway, and France, all of
which send some of their fleets very far afield. The second fact is
the statistics of totals caught. Canada at present catches fifty
million dollars' worth of fish from her own waters in a single year.
The 'Britisher' and 'Yankee' totals {157} each exceed this, though not
by much. But the Yankee total includes a good deal, and the Britisher
total a very great deal, caught far outside their own waters. No other
country is even worthy of comparison with these. The third fact is
that the Canadian total, already advancing more rapidly than any other
total, must continue to advance more rapidly still, because Canada has
the greatest area of unexploited fish-bearing waters in the world.

If the amount caught per head of the total population is made the
standard of comparison, then the Canadian catch is more than five times
greater than the Britishers', and more than ten times greater than the
Yankees'. And if, still keeping to this standard, the comparison is
made between totals caught in strictly territorial waters, Canada
surpasses both Britishers and Yankees, put together, ten times over.

There are nearly 120,000 fishermen in Canada and Newfoundland. The
proportion in Newfoundland is, of course, by far the higher of the two.
About 60,000 people are engaged in handling fish ashore, and many
thousands more are concerned in trading with fish products. One way
and another, the livelihood of at least one Canadian in every fifteen,
and one Newfoundlander in every two, is entirely dependent {158} on
fishing. Statistics are apt to become bewildering unless carefully
marshalled in tabular form. But one or two items might be added.
There is a fishing craft of some kind, however small most of them are,
to every single family in Newfoundland, a proportion immeasurably
higher than in any other country in the world. But even more
astonishing is the statistical fact that the fishermen of all nations
in Newfoundland waters catch each year nearly 1000 cod-fish