COMMERCIAL FISH AND E^ISHERIES. 67 



in its primitive natiuahiess, was one of the best spawning and feeding 

 grounds on the chain of hikes. Many other like conditions might be 

 cited, but I will not weary you with further illustrations. 



Limiting the spawning grounds by polluting the waters in the manner 

 mentioned, and a consequent enforcement of the fish to cast their spawn 

 in unsuitable places, doubtless has much to do with the shortage. 



It is a self-evident fact that good feeding and spawning grounds can- 

 not be maintained with constant accumulations of materials which are 

 thrown into the waters by sewage from cities, factories, and mills. 



By many it is believed that taking the whitefish and lake trout from 

 the waters' during the spawning period has much to do with the decrease, 

 and the catching of these fish at this time is often censured, but it will be 

 observed that no more eggs are destroyed then than would l>e if caught at 

 an earlier i)eriod, though their ova are ready for casting which would pro- 

 duce many young fish in the course of a few months, the stock is no more 

 diminished than would be the case, were they caught in August instead 

 of November. (Remarks.) Doubtless, all these causes have been means 

 to the end, but in my judgment the two great evils are the catching 

 of- small and immature fish, and a pollution of the waters by sewage. 



It is twenty years or more since the first whitefish were planted in 

 ]\Iichigan waters of the Great Lakes, the first few years in very limited 

 nundiers. Of the two billion and over that have been planted, more than 

 one-half were deposited on the Detroit river and Lake Erie, and the bal- 

 ance scattered through the Avaters of the other Great Lakes. 



In order to show what means have been taken to replenish the waters, 

 and the probable results, I call your attention to table Xo. 3, which 

 shows the catch of whitefish for the eleven years prior to 1002 in w^hat is 

 known by the Michigan Fish Commission as the first district, which 

 comprises the waters from the Ohio state line to Lake St. Clair, or prac- 

 tically Detroit : 



TABLE NO. 3. 



1S91 144,355 



1892 123,050 



1S93 01,000 



1891 74,000 



1895 104.300 



1896 59,000 



1897 146,950 



1898 : . . . 107,660 



1899 314,814 



1900 251,410 



1901 281,200 



The increase in these waters begins in 1894 and though a small catch 

 was made in 1896, it was doubtless due to unfavorable wind conditions or 

 water temperatures. (Remarks.) Attention is called to the increase 

 from 1893, when only 61,000 pounds were taken, to the year 1899 when 

 314,814 pounds were caught, an increase of over 500 per cent., but taking 

 the increase from 1892 to 1901, the average is over 100 per centv 



During this period the close season was observed only in Canadian 

 waters of Lake Erie and Detroit river, and not every year at that. There- 



