BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 255 



Writing' from Greeu Bay, Wis., Mr. L. Kumlein says: "During- the 

 autumn of 1878 and the spring- of 1879 a prominent dealer at this point 

 collected from fishermen along- the shore of the bay large quantities of 

 whitefish, which he purchased already packed and salted in half -barrels ; 

 they were bought for No. 1 fish, but in repacking he found some of the 

 packages to contain as many as 600 fish, and of course none were large 

 enough for l^o. 1. There were a very few No. 2, and the lot was even 

 barely salable as No. 3. Many were found that did not measure 3 inches 

 dressed." 



IV. Depletion and search for new fisheries. — Of the eastern shore of 

 Green Bay, Mr. Kumlein says : " The once famous fisheries of '■ the door' 

 around Washington and Saint Martin's Islands, Little Sturgeon Bay, and 

 Chambers Island are no more. On the grounds where once forty staunch 

 mackinaws and five steam tugs with about 4,000 gill-nets brought to 

 their owners in the neighborhood of $100,000 a year, the fishing is now 

 carried on bj- a few suiJerannuated Indians and the gulls. The same 

 grounds that in 1873 yielded $4,000 in four months from two pound 

 nets (Chambers Island), this year have yielded not quite $400 worth, and 

 that with nets twice as large. The fishing grounds about ' the door ' were 

 to the north and west of Washington Island and south and west of Saint 

 Martin's, extending out in either direction for eight miles and between 

 the two islands the whole distance. These grounds were probably the 

 greatest whitefish spawning grounds in existence prior to 1868. Now 

 they are nearly abandoned, l)oth by fish and fishermen. From May 1 to 

 August 15, 1873, Mr. Blakefield, now of the firm of Blakefield «& Minor, 

 of Fish Creek, sold of fresh fish, from two small pound nets set oft" Cham- 

 bers Island, $4,175.91 worth. This year on the same grounds, with nets 

 double the size, and in twice the length of time, the product has been a 

 trifie less than $400. On the same grounds, where one boat with two 

 men sold from their gill-nets $9,000 worth offish in one year, there is no 

 fishing at all now." 



Mr. Windross, of Greeu Bay, estimates that at Oak Orchard and Pen- 

 saukee the catch of whitefish has fallen of 90 per cent, since 1869. He 

 lays the decrease, in a great measure, to the sawdust i^ollutiug the 

 spawning beds, and in corroboration of his statement cites the follow- 

 ing, which he himself has witnessed : In 1845, the whitefish came up the 

 Oconto Eiver as far as the falls, 20 miles, to spawn. With a small seine 

 he took 1,200 half-barrels and could have taken a great many more if 

 he could have used them. This was only at one locality, and thej^ en- 

 tered all the weirs in the same manner. Now the river bottoms are one 

 mass of sawdust, and it also extends far out into the bay so that tlie 

 sheltered shoals are so covered that the fish desert them. Sawdust 

 bottom extends out two miles from shore about the mouth of the rivers. 

 Mr. Windross thinks the whitefish spawn more around the island and 

 on the east shore; very few spawning on the shore from Suamico to 

 Peshtigo Point. 



