The objective of the International Fisheries Commission
Was to arrest the serious decline of the halibut fishery
and to restore the halibut grounds to the maximum of
production. Restoration is being rapidly accomplished,
results being particularly reflected in the increase” in the
Canadian landings, though this may be accounted for in
part by the focal position of Prince Rupert with respect to
the fishing grounds, the excellent facilities established
there for the quick-freezing and storage of halibut, and the
fast rail movement of shipments from this port to the prime-
consuming points in the East.

The International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission

had as its object the restoration of the sockeye (red) salmon ©

fishery in and tributary to the Fraser River, once the
Coast’s greatest fishery, and which, as a result of physical

obstacles to the free passage of spawning fish, had declined
to a fraction of its earlier runs.

Under the Commission’s broad powers and financed by
a grant of $2,000,000 furnished by the two Governments,
corrective measures have been successfully put in effect,

and the Fraser is on its way to restoration as the prime.
salmon river of the Pacific Coast.

Regulation and control of fisheries are among the most
dificult functions with which an administrative or con
trolling body can be faced. When complicated by inter-
national considerations, the problems arising in the past
have often defied solution and have led to friction, sabotage,
and sometimes to the creation of international “incidents”.
While much has yet to be done, the results of the work of
these two international commissions in the North Pacific
indicate that an important formula for international co-
operation has been found and a milestone passed in the
economic history of international relations.

In the great basin of the Mackenzie River and its tribu-
taries, from northern Alberta through the Northwest plain
to the Arctic Ocean, there are vast lake and river systems
capable, in controlled conditions, of producing an important
sustained yield of fresh-water fish. Much of this area
is remote from the great consuming centres and the
problem of transportation is, as yet, too great to admit of
extensive exploitation, except in those more accessible
waters such as Great Slave Lake, Lake Athabaska, Lesser
Slave Lake, and other northern Alberta lakes that have
been fished commercially for some years.

The principal present use for fish in the far northern
areas, outside domestic food needs, is in the feeding of
dogs, on which the country depends for winter transporta-
tion by land.

Except for the developed or partially developed com-
mercial waters mentioned above, consideration of the
potentialities of the vast northern interior has been con-
fined to the Mackenzie River and Great Bear Lake, with
which might be included Great Slave Lake, although the
latter has of late developed a considerable fishery. It is
impossible, with present knowledge, to assess the potential

[20]

of Great Bear Lake. However, the low organic pro-
ductivity of the waters, a rather spotty history of failures
of runs, and the small dependent Indian population suggests
the probability that Great Bear Lake may be unable to
support any substantial commercial fishery. Such a
conclusion, however, on the thin evidence available, would
be dangerous. The fact is that until a great deal more
work is done on these and other far northern waters,
including the deep sea waters of the Arctic Ocean, little
can be said about their fish resources. This is one of the
investigations that should be carried forward more
vigorously.

Water-Power Resources

The water-power resources of the North Pacific Region
are great in extent. From information presently available,
they are estimated to total almost 4,700,000 horse-power
under conditions of ordinary minimum flow or nearly
8,500,000 horse-power ordinarily available for six months
of the year. In such a vast area, however, with widely
varying topographical and meteorological conditions, some
sections are more favourably situated than others in regard
to opportunities for water-power development. In the
section of this report dealing with the water-power resources
of the Region, the subject is discussed in considerable
detail under the four main drainage systems—Coastal
Drainage, Upper Fraser River Drainage, Mackenzie River
and Arctic Drainage, and Yukon River Drainage—and
it will be found that power possibilities, both great and
small, are more widely distributed in the Coastal and
Upper Fraser River drainages than in the Mackenzie and
Yukon Rivers systems. Estimates of the resources of the

four principal drainages, based on existing data, are sum-
marized hereunder.

Estimated H.P. Available at
|
Drainage Ordinary Ordinary
Minimum | Six Months
Flow Flow

@oastall ert eee ce nae Pa Se 931,915 1,969,390
USO MSO ININGrs soo oucho ou eredse ce 2,550,335 3,031,675
Mackenzie River and Arctic............. 1,194,400 3,398,500
YiukoneRivers ihn sek seein ee en ae 19,740 41,520
Aotal eee eet eons ee 4,696,390 8,441,085

Developed Water Power—Power development in the
Region has taken place to a very limited extent; installations
total only a little more than 68,000 horsepower. These
are chiefly in the coastal area of British Columbia for use
in connection with the pulp and paper and mining industries,
and to supply the needs of Prince Rupert. In the Yukon,
a single development of 15,000 horse-power serves the
demands of a placer gold-dredging plant and supplies the