

01 



a. 



100 



80 



60 



40 



20 



Haul seines 



Trap nets 



Landed Discarded Total 



Landed Discarded Total 



Figure 6. — Percentage contributions of high-, medium-, and low- value fish in the landed, 

 discarded, and total catches estimated for haul seines and trap nets, April-November 

 1969. 



carded fish (all of the discarded fish were below 

 legal size). Channel catfish provided the bulk 

 of the catch of medium-value species. The high- 

 value fishes (represented solely by the walleye) 

 accounted for only 0.1 ''r of the estimated total 

 catch, as well as of the landed and discarded 

 catch. The walleye is not commonly taken in 

 the bay except in early spring during upstream 

 spawning migration to the Sandusky River. 



The value of the catch from the 14 seine hauls 

 averaged $167 per haul, calculated from pre- 

 vailing prices of fish paid to fishermen at the 

 time of capture. The potential worth of the dis- 

 carded fish averaged $45 per haul if the value 

 for meal or related industrial uses is considered 

 to be 2''- per jiound. The seine fishery, which 

 takes primarily freshwater drum, carp, and 

 goldfish, is in a favorable position to increase 

 income through a greater production of low- 

 value fishes. Even now the haul seiners, with 

 operations requiring little overhead or main- 

 tenance of gear and only limited hand labor, 

 occasionally land and market sizable quantities 

 of fish for as little as 2 to S( per pound. More- 

 over, a majority of the seiners appear interested 



in increasing their landings of low-value fishes 

 for sale to a steady and dependable buyer, even 

 at this low price. 



Trap net estimates 



Tallies of the estimated catches were recorded 

 on 13 trips (226 trap net lifts) to the fishing 

 grounds in the open waters of the western basin 

 from April to November 1969. The number of 

 trap nets checked per trip ranged from 10 to 35 

 and averaged 17.4. The number of nets lifted on 

 a given day usually depended on the catch of 

 higher value species, i.e., the higher the catch 

 of high- and medium-value fish, the smaller the 

 number of nets lifted. In essence, it amounted 

 to a self-imposed catch quota on the more select 

 species to prevent a market glut that causes 

 lower prices for succeeding catches. 



The total catch estimates from a single day's 

 operation ranged from a high of 15,615 lb (May 

 28) to a low of 2,700 lb ( September 3) . Catches 

 were usually largest in the spring. Estimates 

 of the catches totaled 102,189 lb for the 13 trips, 

 or an average of 7,860 lb per trip (Table 5). 



