FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Table 3. — Percentage composition of the catch, by species, 

 in the commercial fisheries of Green Bay, 1891-1908 



The total catches in 1891 (a little more than 2 

 million pounds) and 1892 (about 2V4 million 

 pounds) were below the 1885 level. The take rose 

 to about 3% million pounds in 1893, dropped to 

 2^2 million pounds in 1894, and then entered on 

 a 5-year period of consistent increase which cul- 

 minated in a catch of 10% million pounds in 1899. 

 A 4-year period, 1900-1903, of somewhat lower 

 yield — approximately within the range of 6% to 

 Sy 2 million pounds — was followed by a second 

 peak of more than 10% million pounds in 1904. 

 Again the take dropped sharply (nearly to 7y 4 

 million pounds) in the year after the peak. From 

 the relatively low 1905 value the yield increased 

 rapidly to about 9y 2 million pounds in 1906, to 

 IIV2 million pounds in 1907, and to 13% million 

 pounds in 1908. The last figure represents not 

 only the maximum for the 18-year period but also 

 the highest recorded yield for the State of Mich- 

 igan waters of Green Bay. 



Comparison of the statistics on the total catch 

 with those for the lake herring reveals that the 

 fluctuations in the take of this species were in large 

 measure responsible for the trends of total pro- 

 duction. Lake herring made up 82.4 percent of 

 the 1891-1908 catch (table 2) and did not con- 

 tribute less than 71.6 percent (the figure for 1905— 

 see table 3) in any single year. The percentage 

 was consistently above 85 in the 5 years 1896-1900 

 and reached 90.6 in 1899. The output of lake 

 herring increased from the relatively low figure 

 of iy 2 million pounds in 1891 to more than 2% 

 million in 1893, dropped to less than 2 million 

 pounds in 1894, and then increased each year until 



a peak of more than dy 2 million pounds was 

 reached in 1899. The take varied irregularly dur- 

 ing the next several years. Toward the end of 

 the 18-year interval a second period of consistent 

 increase carried the output from about 5% million 

 pounds in 1905 to more than 11% million pounds 

 in 1908. 



Most of the other species that contributed more 

 than 2 percent to the total 1891-1908 yield (yellow 

 perch formed 2.2 percent of the 1891-1908 total, 

 table 2, but had a mean percentage of only 1.9, 

 table 3) exhibited the same upward trend of pro- 

 duction that characterized the lake herring. The 

 catch of lake trout, for example, did not exceed 

 176,000 pounds (the take in 1897) in the years 

 1891-1901, but was 300,000 pounds or more in 6 

 of the 7 years 1902-08. Similarly, in 1891-1902, 

 the take of whitefish was greater than 100,000 

 pounds in only 4 years and was never as high as 

 150,000 pounds, but exceeded 200,000 pounds every 

 year after 1902. 



Discussion of the increase in the output of yel- 

 low perch and suckers is handicapped by the cir- 

 cumstance that part of the catch of both probably 

 was included under Miscellaneous, especially dur- 

 ing the earlier years of the 1891-1908 period. De- 

 spite this difficulty it is valid to state that the take 

 of yellow perch and suckers did increase greatly 

 toward the end of the period. This conclusion 

 would hold even if we were to assume that perch 

 and suckers made up practically all of the mis- 

 cellaneous catch in the earlier years and little or 

 none in the later ones. The increase in the pro- 

 duction of suckers was sufficient to place that spe- 

 cies second only to lake herring in every year after 

 1898 and in the 18-year average. The contribu- 

 tion of suckers to the annual totals exceeded 5 

 percent every year after 1899 and was over 9 

 percent in 4 years. The increase in the production 

 of j'ellow perch carried that species from a posi- 

 tion of insignificance to the point where it held 

 third place in 1905, 1906, and 1908 and accounted 

 for as much as 6.7 percent of the total catch (in 

 1905). 



The walleye provides an exception to the trends 

 just described for the other principal species. 

 Most of the larger catches were in the earlier part 

 of the 18-year period, with the four best years in 

 1895-98. The take was more than 200,000 

 pounds in 6 of the 9 years 1891-99, but in only 2 of 



