possibilities. The field work was done by Professor V. C.
Wynne-Edwards and Dr. D. S. Rawson and the notes that
follow are largely quoted or abstracted from their report :-—
The Mackenzie River ‘is not uniformly productive
throughout, the richest waters being those between the
Ramparts at Fort Good Hope and the sea (400 miles). The
fisheries are seasonal, the autumn fisheries being the most
important as providing the winter supply of frozen dog-
feed; also, this is the season of whitefish spawning and the

fisheries are conducted on their most productive spawning

grounds or migration channels. The limits of the season

are dictated by temperature—cold weather to prevent
spoilage—and the period of open water for the journey
home. — All fishing at all seasons is done by gill nets.

The summer fisheries are pursued chiefly for immediate
dog-feed requirements, with any excess smoked or dried
for winter use. Fish taken are mostly whitefish, inconnu,
and herring.

The largest fishery on the river is the autumn fishery
at Providence, where the Mackenzie River leaves Great
Slave Lake. Preferred fishing sites are along the north
channel, in Deep Bay and off Slave Point. This fishery
appears to have taken something in the order of 250,000
pounds annually, though demand has fallen off in recent
years. Principal catch is whitefish, with good quantities
of pike and lake trout.

Passing down river from Providence the Simpson,
Wrigley, and Norman sections appear to be the least
productive on the river. At Wrigley, the upper limit of
river whitefish is reached. At the Ramparts, above the
entrance to which the river drops in a twomile-wide
rapids, there is a locally important summer herring fishery;
also, inconnu, whitefish, and pike are taken in fair numbers.
Here it is reported that Pacific salmon are regularly taken
in the autumn.

The summer fishery improves further toward the delta,
owing to increasing numbers of whitefish of excellent
quality. Herring and inconnu are also taken in quantity.
Here, at Arctic Red River, McPherson, through the
channels of the Delta, and at Aklawvik, the autumn fisheries
are important as furnishing green fish for winter feed,
since this locality is the centre of a good deal of winter
activity.

An interesting commentary on the process of preparing
summer-caught fish for dog-feed is quoted from the report
of the Fisheries Research Board.

Herrings and inconnu are dried in considerable numbers. The
procedure is the same for all species, including the whitefish which
predominate in Arctic Red River catches. The fish is split down

the back, the two fillets remaining joined along the belly. The -

viscera are carefully removed, the roes being separated. The back-
bone is then detached from both sides, except at the tail. The
cleaned fillets are scored crossways with the knife at intervals of
One to two inches; scores are cut longways in the belly, and in the
larger fish the knife is also thrust between the neural spines of the
vertebrae in half a dozen places. The fish is then thrown over a
stage of four-inch poles, high enough to be out of reach of dogs and

3681—5

small children; the fillets hang down on one side, the backbone
on the other. They are left here about three days, after which
they are removed to similar racks in smoke tent or house where a
poplar wood fire smoulders on the floor. Smoking takes 48 hours.
The cured fish are then tied in bunches by the tail and left on the
outdoor stages until baled. About three-quarters of the weight
is lost in the process. The roes and guts are frequently dried
separately. Dogs enjoy meat, skin, scales, guts, bones and all.

Great Slave Lake, with an area of 10,500 square miles,

~ is the fifth largest lake on the continent. It lies 550 miles

north of Edmonton and is the source of the Mackenzie
River, receiving the inflow of the Athabaska and Peace
Rivers. It is 265 miles long from east to west and has
1,900 miles of shoreline. The lake is covered with ice for
more than seven months of the year; the short, ice-free
period is warm and the hours of sunshine are long in this
latitude.

The characteristics of the lake water vary widely, the
water being relatively clear and transparent in the western
section, with a tendency to muddiness, varying seasonally,
in the western or delta section, where it receives the waters
of the Peace and Athabaska Rivers. The physical charac-
teristics of the lake are closely~similar to those of Lake
Athabaska.

The common whitefish is abundant in most parts of the
lake, and in size, appearance, and quality appear to be of
first-class commercial grade. While cysts in the flesh were
found to be common, this defect was found to be no less
prevalent than in fish from Lake Athabaska which are
marketable.

Ciscoes are abundant, but so heavily infested with cysts
as to suggest they are unlikely to provide a commercial
fishery. Lake trout are abundant in all parts of the lake,
fish of commercial size ranging from 20 to 40 pounds, with
quality uniformly good. Inconnu are widely scattered in
the lake and are found in particularly large numbers around
the mouths of the rivers. They run from four to twenty
pounds. Pike of three to five pounds are abundant, with
individuals running up to ten and fifteen pounds. Ling
are widespread, mostly small and not in great numbers.

On the question of the capacity of this lake for the
production of commercial fish, Dr. Rawson, in his report to
the Fisheries Research Board, has this to say:

The estimation of commercial fish production in Great Slave
Lake is facilitated by its resemblance to Lake Athabaska which has
been fished commercially for some years. This resemblance includes
the main features of depth, and physical conditions of bottom fauna.
Lake Athabaska, with an area of 3,000 square miles, has been pro-
ducing annually more than 1,000,000 pounds of whitefish and trout
for years. On this basis Great Slave Lake with more than three
times this area might be expected to produce a minimum of 3,000,000
pounds per year.

It is also true that Great Slave Lake resembles in a general way
the upper Great Lakes, Superior, Michigan and Huron. The bottom
fauna of the deeper water of Lake Michigan is very like that of
Great Slave, Athabaska and Reindeer Lakes. The sustained yield
of fish from the upper Great Lakes is about 14 pounds per acre.
If Great Slave Lake were able to produce at even half this rate its
annual production would be in the order of 5,000,000 pounds.

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