21 (J BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



2. That no strings of pound nets used, in the lakes shall extend more than 4 miles from shore. 



3. That one-half part of all channels between islands or elsewhere, where fish migrate to spawn, 

 shall be kept free from nets of all kinds at all seasons. 



4. That all whitefish taken of less than 16 inches in length, and all salmon trout less than 2 

 pounds in weight, shall be immediately returned to the waters where taken and shall not he exposed 

 for sale. 



5. That the month of November in each year be made a close season for whitefish, herring, and 

 salmon or lake trout. 



6. That all penalties fixed for violation of any laws that shall be enacted shall be made not only 

 to apply to those who take tish, but also to all persons who buy, sell, transport, or have the same in 

 possession. 



The following resolution was also passed, viz : 



Resolved, That the law should authorize the seizure and destruction of nets which are used in 

 violation of law. 



Throughout all the ten reports of the commission are frequent acknowledgments 

 of courtesies and exchanges with the commissions of other States and especially with 

 the U. S. Fish Commissioner, to whom the Michigan Commission is under very many 

 obligations for continued favors and grants of eggs and fry and fish of varieties that 

 could not be elsewhere procured. 



The Michigan Commission would be guilty of ingratitude and lack of appreciation 

 if it ever permitted any account of its work to go forth without due acknowledgment 

 of its obligations to the railroads of the State, without whose aid, given for the asking 

 and without stint, it could never have accomplished anywhere near what it has. 



Ever since the organization of the commission it has at each legislative session 

 given much time and attention to procuring the passage of proper protective legislation 

 to preserve the fisheries; but it seems much easier to get legislation through to prop- 

 agate fish than to lay any restrictions upon the catching. As against any such 

 restrictions an active lobby always appears on the scene and cries out about the ruin 

 and destruction of property and investments, and who ever knew a legislature that 

 was proof against such a plea. 



From the annexed table it will appear that the total plants of whitefish aggre- 

 gate the large number of nearly 750,000,000, commencing in 1874 with little above 

 1,500,000. The 20,000,000 point was not reached until 1883, the 50,000,000 point until 

 1886, nor the 100,000,000 point until 1890, so that more than half the whole number 

 have been planted within the past five years. 



It is matter of deep regret to everyone connected with or interested in the arti- 

 ficial propagation of whitefish that actual and tangible demonstration of the results 

 of such large plants can not in the nature of things be obtained. The results of brook- 

 trout planting in streams are so open to inspection and so easily observed and appre- 

 ciated that it is not difficult to convince any caviler by proofs and demonstration 

 that can not be gainsaid; but to reason from analogy it would seem that if the rela- 

 tively smaller output of brook trout has produced such remarkable results as they are 

 known and acknowledged to have, the millions of whitefish and wall-eyed pike that 

 have been planted in the Great Lakes must have made a marked impression on the 

 commercial fisheries, and yet frankness compels the admission that thus far the in- 

 creased catch of adult whitefish is not at all commensurate with what it seems ought 

 to have been expected as the outcome of these great plants. It is true there are many 



