208 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



of the recorded yields was 2,946,000 pounds.' 

 The lowest annual United States yield on record 

 occurred in the next period, 1900-1927, when in 

 1903 only 873,000 pounds were reported. (No 

 reference has been found that suggests that the 

 statistics for 1903 are incomplete.) In only 6 

 years (1914, 1919, 1921, 1925, 1926, and 1927) of 

 the 16 in this period did the annual catch from 

 United States waters exceed 2 miEion pounds. 

 The average annual yield of 1,905,000 pounds in 

 this period was only 65 percent of the 1885-99 

 average. The upward trend that was to cany 

 the yield in United States waters to the unprece- 

 dented catch of nearly 14^ million pounds in 1934 

 actually began in 1925, but was relatively slight 

 until 1928. The average of 7,520,000 pounds for 

 the years 1928-35 was 2.55 times the average of 

 the 1885-99 period and 3.95 times the 1900-1927 

 average. Not only was production high in 1928- 

 35, but the fluctuations in annual catch were 

 sudden and violent (for example, 9,741,000 

 pounds in 1932, 3,434,000 pounds in 1933, and 

 14,218,000 pounds in 1934). The violent fluc- 

 tuations continued into the 1936-47 period, when 

 the average annual production fell to 2,390,000 

 pounds. The average annual yield in these most 

 recent years was 81 percent of that of the 1885-99 

 period, and only 32 percent of the 1928-35 aver- 

 age. The grand average for the years of recorded 

 statistics was 3,262,000 pounds. 



The Ohio production has always dominated the 

 United States catch, and in the years for which 

 complete data are available Ohio, on the average, 

 has accounted for more than half of the yield of 

 the entire lake. Furthermore, the relative im- 

 portance of the Ohio catch in the United States 

 production has shown a distinct tendency to 

 increase. In the early period, 1885-99, Ohio 

 produced 77.8 percent of the total United States 

 yield. This percentage increased to 87.7 in the 

 1900-1927 period, to 92.9 in 1928-35, and to 93.1 

 in recent years. The proportion of the United 

 States catch taken in each of the three remaining 

 States has tended to decline. 



If the Ontario statistics were to be segregated 

 by periods independent of those of the United 

 States, the following intervals would be selected 

 to show the trend of production: 1894-1911, 



' To make use of all available statistics, the averages computed from table 

 1 for United States waters, and for the entire lake, are the sums of the corre- 

 sponding averages of the individual States and the Province of Ontario. 



1912-20, 1921-27, 1928-35, and 1936-47. The 

 Ontario figures in table 1 show a progressive in- 

 crease in catch with each succeeding period except 

 the last. This trend on the Canadian side of 

 Lake Erie, therefore, does not correspond to that 

 on the United States side, except during the 

 last two periods, 1928 and following years. Ap- 

 parently the Canadian fishery for yellow perch 

 began later and developed more slowly than that 

 of the United States. 



The earliest statistics of the catch in Ontario 

 waters of Lake Erie show a relatively low yield 

 with no extremely large variation from the average 

 of 532,000 pounds during the period 1894-1911. 

 The average annual catch of the next period, 1912- 

 20, was 1,189,000 pounds or 2.23 times the 1894- 

 1911 average; in only one year, 1918, did the take 

 exceed IK million pounds. The 1921-27 period 

 was one of relatively stable production with an 

 average catch of 2,133,000 pounds (1.79 times the 

 average of the preceding period) . The large annual 

 catches and increased variability of the annual 

 yields in Ontario waters in 1928-35 were not un- 

 like those in United States waters for the same 

 period, except that in Ontario production did not 

 reach such heights and the fluctuations in catch 

 were not so violent as in the United States. The 

 average annual Ontario yield for this period was 

 4,596,000 pounds, or 2.15 times that of the preced- 

 ing period. Production during 1936-47 declined 

 to an average of 1,660,000 pounds, or to 36 percent 

 of the 1928-35 average. In only 4 of the last 12 

 years, 1938, 1941, 1946, and 1947, did the catch 

 exceed 2 million pounds. The grand average for 

 the 54 years of recorded statistics was 1,702,000 

 pounds. 



The production from the western part of the lake 

 (west end to Port Burwell), on the average, made 

 up more than 60 percent of the Canadian total in 

 each period. The percentage increased from 62 in 

 the years 1894-1911 to 82 m 1912-20, and re- 

 mained relatively constant, between 74 and 78, in 

 the last three periods. This stabilization in the 

 relative productivity of the two sections of the 

 Canadian waters is in contrast to the situation in 

 the United States waters where the western (Ohio) 

 section increased in importance each period. 



The catch in the entire lake showed variations 

 similar to those in United States waters, except 

 during the years 1921-27, when the total produc- 

 tion was augmented by the increased yield in 



