Figure 5. — Total fish yield by months in U.S. waters 

 of the western basin for haul seines (solid line) and 

 trap nets (broken line) in 1969. No fish were taken 

 in January and February. 



(Table 3) . Three types, however, accounted for 

 92 Si- of the fish produced: Small-mesh gill nets 

 took over 6.9 million lb, haul seines 5.7 million, 

 and trap nets 2.-5 million. 



Although regulations that govern the fishing 

 seasons vary among the states and the Province 

 of Ontario, fishing normally begins in late March 

 and ends about mid-December, depending on ice 

 conditions. The fishing season in the Ohio 

 waters of Lake Erie is administratively sep- 

 arated into a spring and a fall fishery. The 

 haul seine fishery produced over 68% of the U.S. 

 catch in the western basin in 1969 and the trap 

 net fishery nearly BOS'- . Production in the seine 

 fishery was highest during late April and early 

 May, and steadily declined as the season pro- 

 gressed (Fig. 5). Production in the trap net 

 fishery was also highest in April and May; after 

 a summer lull, it increased again in the fall. 



for more than 20 Tr of the total landings. Since 

 the late 1940's the bay has been the most heavily 

 fished district in Ohio, if not in the entire lake. 

 In 1948-53, Sandusky Bay fishermen landed an 

 average of 58.5 lb of fish per acre, compared 

 with an average of 9.1 lb per acre for other 

 Ohio waters of Lake Erie (Chapman, 1955). 

 In 1969, Sandusky Bay yielded 95.4 lb of fish 

 per acre, compared with an average of 2.7 lb 

 for Ohio waters of the open lake. The entire 

 western basin yielded an average of 19.8 lb per 

 acre and the entire lake about 9.3 lb per acre. 

 At least seven types of commercial gear were 

 fished in the western basin of Lake Erie in 1969 



ESTIMATED CATCHES BY HAUL SEINES 

 AND TRAP NETS 



Commercial fishermen remove their catch 

 from haul seines and trap nets with long-handled 

 dip nets (an average of 20 to 30 lb of fish are 

 taken per di]i) . The fish are quickly sorted after 

 each dip and unwanted fish returned to the 

 water. Fish to be kept are separated according 

 to species and boxed, or placed in holding pens 

 if destined for the live-fish market. 



During trips to the fishing grounds, observers 

 estimated the weight of the fish taken in each 

 dip of the net and kept a running tally of total 



Table 3. — Total fish yield (pounds) by gear from the western basin of Lake Erie 



in 1969. 



•'Tr . <0.5I. 



