PART I 



PRODUCTION OF WHITEFISH IN LAKES HURON 

 AND MICHIGAN, 1879-1939 



LAKE HURON 



Because of defects in the data on the catch of whitefish in the United States (State 

 of Michigan) waters of Lake Huron in certain of the earlier years, the graphical repre- 

 sentation (fig. 2) of the production history of the lake (table 1) begins with the year 





i PX^tTTn I i i i i — t — i — i i i km I i i hi i i-rTtTTTT I i i : I i i 



i a 9 o 



' 9 S 19 I 9 5 19 10 I 9 I 5 19 2 I 9 2 S 19 10 19 3 5 



r f A R 



Figure 2. — 'Commercial production of whitefish in Lake Huron, 1889-1939. Lower solid line, Ontario waters of Huron proper; short dashes, North 

 ajgg Channel and Georgian Bay; long dashes, State of Michigan waters; upper solid line, entire lake. 



1889. 5 It is true that data are available for Ontario waters of Lake Huron for years 

 prior to 1889. However, it is with the course of production in the State of Michigan 

 waters that the present study is most concerned. 



Despite the known inclusion of the catch of Menominee whitefish or pilots 6 in the 

 data for 1879, 1885, and 1890, the recorded production of whitefish in the State of 

 Michigan waters of Lake Huron exceeded 2 million pounds in only 2 of the 4 earliest 

 years for which records are available (1879 and 1889) and was less than V/% million 

 pounds in 1885 and 1890 (only slightly above a million in the latter year). 



The production of whitefish in the State of Michigan waters of Lake Huron was 

 well over 2 million pounds in 1889, the first year for which acceptable data are avail- 

 able. In 1891, the second year for which presumably usable statistics are available, 

 this yield was somewhat above V/2 million pounds. The next several years saw an 

 irregular but distinct downward trend. The average production for the years, 1889 



5 See appendix A for a listing of the sources of the statistical data of table 1 and statements concerning their limitations in certain years. Also 

 see appendix D for the 1940-1942 records. 



8 Although there can be no certainty concerning the production of Menominee whitefish in the early years of the fishery, it is not believed that 

 catches of that species made up a great part of the reported production of whitefish in years earlier than 1891. Consequently, the catch for 1890 

 was graphed in figure 2 although the yield for that year was excluded from the computation of averages. The cateh of Menominee whitefish in the 

 State of Michigan waters of Lake Huron exceeded 100,000 pounds only 6 times in the 32 years for which data are available within the period, 1893- 

 1939, and frequently was less than 50,000 pounds. 



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