404 ANNUAL EECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



troit River by the Fish Commission of Michigan and that of 

 Canada. It is well known that of all the fishes in the lakes 

 the whitefish is the most important, and that upon its pur- 

 suit and capture is based a very important interest, which 

 occupies a large number of men and an immense capital. 

 This, however, is one of the species most readily afiected by 

 overfishing, localities which furnished an ample supply a few 

 years ago being now almost entirely exhausted. 



When the Fish Commission of Michis-an was oro-anized, a 

 few years ago, its attention was early directed toward meas- 

 ures for restoring the whitefish to its original abundance, and 

 more if possible, and various propositions were made, some 

 of which looked toward special restrictions in regard to the 

 mesh of nets, time of capture, etc. It was found, however, 

 that all the enactments for this end would be very difiicult 

 of execution, and it was finally concluded to endeavor to in- 

 crease the numbers of fish by artificial propagation to such 

 an extent as to make it unnecessary to pass any restrictive 

 laws. Partial efibrts to this end have been previously made ; 

 but it was durino; 1875 that the work has been commenced 

 on a really vigorous scale. At present the Commissioners 

 have between 6,000,000 and 8,000,000 whitefish eggs in their 

 new hatching establishment recentl}'' erected at Detroit, all 

 reported to be in excellent condition, and likely to become 

 vigorous fish, to be introduced into the waters of the lake 

 during the coming year. Indeed, it is thought that by a new 

 improvement, lately devised, it will be possible to hatch 

 30,000,000 the next year. 



While this work is prosecuted satisfactorily by the Com- 

 missioners of Michigan, a similar enterprise is carried on 

 by Mr. Samuel Wilmot on the Canadian shores opposite, 

 who will probably hatch out 5,000,000 to 8,000,000, and 

 who also expects to reach a minimum of 20,000,000 another 

 season. 



The importance of these enterprises can not be easily over- 

 estimated. It may be calculated that of each million of young 

 fish placed in the waters, not less than 200,000 will attain a 

 full maturity, and possiblj'- a much larger percentage. The 

 expense is a mere trifle in proportion to the results to be an- 

 ticipated, and it will probably be found more economical to 

 continue the work indefinitely than to trust to natural repro- 



