Economic conditions during the war, the 

 resultant high price of meat and meat products, 

 and the necessity of conserving other food sup- 

 plies were the principal reasons for the estab- 

 lishment of the commercial fishing industry of 

 the Red Lakes (Avery, 1918) . The clamor for a 

 supply of reasonably priced fish as a substitute 

 for meat even led to the unreasonable request 

 that the Minnesota Commissioner of Game and 

 Fish "give the settlers their rights to kill game 

 and catch fish at any time regardless of game 

 laws." The Governor and the Minnesota Public 

 Safety Commission (State War Board) were de- 

 luged with similar appeals . At the request of 

 the Public Safety Commission (resolution of 

 September 12, 1917), the Commissioner of 

 Game and Fish formulated a plan for commer- 

 cial fishing operations and wholesaling in some 

 of the larger inland lakes of Minnesota to be 

 conducted under his supervision. 



A commercial fishing enterprise was be- 

 gun on the Red Lakes during the fall of 1917 

 with a basic fund of $1,000 appropriated by the 

 Minnesota Public Safety Commission. Because 

 of the lack of equipment there was little com- 

 mercial fishing during the fall of 1917, but four 

 pound- nets were set off Redby and two off Pone- 

 mah in Lower Red Lake in May 1918 by State 

 crews . By the fall of 1918 the State owned 10 

 pound-nets and 2 gill -nets (Avery, 1919). Col- 

 lecting stations were established to which the 

 Indians, who fished with hook and line and with 

 gill-nets, and the State pound-net fishermen de- 

 livered their catches for sorting, packing, and 

 shipment. The fish were shipped to various 

 points in Minnesota where they were sold by the 

 State at less than the prevailing market prices . 



The first pound-net lifted in Lower Red 

 Lake caught 9,657 pounds of fish, approximately 

 80 percent of which were walleyes . "The fish 

 were found to be so abundant that during May 

 and June (1918) from two to four thousand 

 pounds at a lift were taken from the pound-nets 

 in use." (Avery, 1918) . It was reported that in 

 1918 a gill-net 300 feet long would catch 300 

 walleyes, and that approximately 1,500 pounds 

 of fish were caught by one Indian in a single lift 

 of 2,000 linear feet of gill-nets. S.A. Selvog 

 (19257) wrote, "During the war period, this 



department earned an actual profit of approx- 

 imately $40,000, due largely to the fact that dur- 

 ing the seasons of 1917 and 1918 virtually all the 

 fish produced in Red Lake were taken by our 

 crews and equipment, whereas the fish produced 

 since then has been purchased largely from in- 

 dividual fishermen. There was a loss in 1919 

 and 1920, but since 1921 the industry has been 

 more than self-sustaining, and no money has 

 been appropriated for its maintenance except 

 the original $1,000 appropriated by the Public 

 Safety Commission in 1917, which was refunded 

 in 1918." In 1918 the majority of the Indians 

 fished with hook and line, but in 1919 they 

 started to use rather extensively, gill-nets of 

 3-1/2-inch mesh, stretched measure. 



Mr . Art Allard, a white man, who was 

 employed almost continuously on the Red Lakes 

 as a spawn -taker by the State during the period 

 1918-1929, informed us that during the years 

 1920 to 1922 walleyes taken in pound-nets were 

 sorted for the market. The larger fish, which 

 brought the best prices, ran 40 fish per 100 

 pounds (average 2-1/2 pounds). At that time 

 pound-netters took no walleyes under 1 pound 

 (sometimes under 1-1/2 pounds) and often sorted 

 the 3 -pound and larger individuals (3 to 7 pounds; 

 average about 4 pounds) for the New York mar- 

 ket. The walleyes taken in the 3 -1/2 -inch mesh 

 gill -nets averaged about 1 pound in weight. 

 There was then a fairly good supply of the big- 

 ger fish, and in the fall 4- to 7-pound walleyes 

 were plentiful . Large northern pike were also 

 common . TTie pound-nets were lifted, on the 

 average, every 2 days and never fished uninter- 

 ruptedly longer than 3 days . 



Mr. Allard said the State at first per- 

 mitted the Indians to employ a 3 -1/2 -inch mesh, 

 then increased the size to 3-3/4 Inches. He 

 said that no dead fish were found around the 

 State's pound-nets, except that occasionally 

 sheepshead ran into the nets in such tremendous 

 numbers that many were killed by the crowding. 

 The small pike were released without apparent 

 harm. 



In 1919 it was proposed that the Red 

 Lake fisheries be abandoned, but their continu- 

 ance was recommended by the Minnesota 



