: 



L 



J. J 



APRIL 25- MAY 20, 1962 



DISCUSSION BY BASIN 



The following section discusses the physical 

 characteristics, catch rates, best catches, and high 

 yield locations of the three basins of Lake Erie. 



Am 



SEPTEMBER 23-OCTOBER 10, 196? 



d 



MAY 22-JUNE 20, 1963 



n J 



ll 



OCTOBER 12-OCTOBER 31, 1966 



LEGEND 



ALEWIFE r'V'syj SMELT 



YELLOW PERCH m9 OTHERS 



Figure 5. — Percentage species composition of alewife. smelt, and 

 yellow perch inexploratory trawl catches by basinand year in Lake 

 Erie. 



In all, the 245 exploratory trawl catches yielded 

 31 species offish (positively identified). One other 

 species, the silver chub, Hybopsis storeriana, was 

 tentatively identified but not verified, and is there- 

 fore not included in the species composition count. 

 Van Meter and Trautman (1970) reported that 138 

 species have been reported in Lake Erie at one time 

 or another. Nine species — yellow perch; rainbow 

 smelt; alewife; freshwater drum; carp; gizzard 

 shad, Dorosoma cepedianum; channel catfish; 

 white bass; and goldfish, Carassius auratus 

 — composed 98.4% of the total catch. The remaining 

 22 miscellaneous species were not taken in signifi- 

 cant quantities. The occurrence, total pounds 

 landed, catch rate, and average catch for effective 

 effort for all species are summarized in Table 1. 



Figure 6. — Species composition of explora- 

 tory trawl catches by year in Lake Erie. 



Western Basin 



Collectively, for all four cruises in the Western 

 Basin, the 16,995 pounds offish landed, yielded an 

 average '/2-hr catch of 287 pounds. The 1,265 square 

 miles of surface area in the basin represent 12.8% of 

 the total surface area of Lake Erie. The 60 ex- 

 ploratory drags completed in the Western Basin 

 disclosed many new grounds suitable for bottom 

 trawling. For the most part, the Western Basin has a 

 mud bottom. It has, however, a rather extensive 

 area of sand which extends from south of the Detroit 

 River east to Pelee Island. Also, a narrow band of 

 clay interspersed with rock and gravel shoals follows 

 the Ohio shore. This bottom area has traditionally 

 been the spawning grounds of many fishes. 



CRUISE 2 

 1962 



CRUISE 4 

 1962 



