WHITEFISH FISHERY OF LAKES HURON AND MICHIGAN 



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the total for the lake in any single year (percentages of 12.6, 15.8, and 10.4 in 1933, 

 1934, and 1935, respectively). 



Comparison of later and earlier production of whitefish in the various districts of 

 Lake Michigan (tables 15 and 16) reveals that M-3 contributed an even higher per- 

 centage of the total for the lake in 1891-1908 (59.5 percent) than in 1929-1939 (45.9 

 percent). M-2 and M-4 also accounted for higher percentages of the total in the 

 earlier period (7.4 and 7.3 percent, respectively, as compared with 2.3 and 2.4 percent). 

 However, the percentages for these two districts may be too high for the years, 1891— 

 1908. As stated in footnote 23, the division of the catches for the early period was 

 based on the home ports of the fishermen, not necessarily on the actual location of their 

 fishing grounds. In recent years, at least, numbers of fishermen who operate from 

 ports of M-2 and M-4 have done part of their fishing in other districts (chiefly in M-3) . 

 It is believed that the data for the remaining districts were not affected greatly by the 

 separation of the catch of the earlier years according to the port from which the fisher- 

 men operated. 



Table 16. — Production of whitefish in pounds in Lake Michigan according to statistical districts, 1891-1908 



M-l, M-5, M-6, M-7, and M-8 yielded smaller percentages of the total catch of 

 whitefish in 1891-1908 than in 1929-1939. Especially noteworthy are the comparative 

 yields for M-l which accounted for only 7.2 percent of the early total catch as against 

 22.6 percent of the recent production. The change was not large in M-5 (12.9 percent in 

 the early period; 13.6 percent in the recent). The percentages were considerably lower 

 in 1891-1908 than in 1929-1939 for all three districts I M-6. M-7, and M-8) of southern 

 Lake Michigan (1.6, 1.9, and 2.2 percent as compared with 3.2, 4.4, and 5.6 percent). 



Despite the changes just described in the percentage distribution of the catch of 

 whitefish according to district, the most productive areas of the earlier years seem to be 

 in general the best areas of recent years. This conclusion is supported by the following 

 comparison of regions of the lake: 



