THE PASSING OF THE STURGEON 



365 



For nearly two decades after 1880 the animal yield of sturgeon 

 products did not fall below eleven or twelve million pounds, but as 

 season followed season the same areas were not contributing the same 

 proportion of the total. The accompanying table shows the catch for 

 the various districts in different years. In 1880 the Great Lakes, 



Statistics of the Stukgeon Fishery 1S 



owing to the vast abundance of sturgeon in the shallow and warmer 

 waters of Lakes Michigan and Erie, yielded more than three fifths of 

 the total for the United States. Although complete statistics for the 

 entire country are not available for any single year during the decade 

 following 1880, there is ample reason for believing that the industry 

 expanded and the products increased rapidly for several seasons. For 

 example, the catch in the Lakes was only 410,000 pounds smaller in 

 1885 than it was in 1880, 23 and in 1888 the chief coastal areas, the 



18 Statistics from following sources: Goode, Vols. II., V., Sec. 1. Report of 

 the U. S. Fish Commission, 1888; 1893, p. 146; 1895, p. 495; 1896, p. 576; 

 1899, pp. 109, 175, 372-80; 1900, pp. 200, 319; 1901, pp. 511, 580; 1902, pp. 440, 

 484; 1903, pp. 348, 416; 1904, pp. 648-51. Bulletin of U. S. Fish Commission, 

 1890, p. 78; 1891, p. 281; 1894, p. 350. Fisheries Documents 609, 620; 

 Statistical Bulletin 188. 



19 Statistics are for years as follows: New England, 1889; all others, 1890. 



20 Statistics are for years as follows: New England, 1898; Pacific coast, 

 1895; Great Lakes, 1899; Interior Waters, 1895; others, 1897. 



21 Statistics are for years as follows: New England, 1905; Middle Atlantic, 

 1904; South Atlantic and Gulf, 1902; Pacific Coast, 1904; Great Lakes, 1903; 

 Interior Waters, 1903. 



22 No values given. 



23 U. S. Bureau of Fisheries Report, 1904, pp. 649-51. 



