The largest decreases of production in 

 Wisconsin occurred in W-4 (drop of 417, 00U 

 pounds) and W-3 (decrease of 360, 000 pounds). 

 These decreases, together with the drop of 

 31, 000 pounds in W-l outweighed the increases 

 of 3, 000 pounds in W-2, 166, 000 pounds in W-6, 

 and 191, 000 pounds in W-5 sufficiently to give a 

 net loss of 450, 000 pounds --from 6, 417, 000 in 

 1953 to 5, 967, 000 in 1954. 



The take of chubs in Illinois increased 

 276, 000 pounds --from 1, 188, 000 in 1953 to 

 1,464,000 in 1954. 



In the entire lake (no catch reported for 

 Indiana) the production of chubs decreased from 

 11, 151, 000 pounds in 1953 to 10, 568, 000 in 1954- 

 a drop of 583, 000 pounds . 



Fishing pressure in State of Michigan 

 waters (given in table 20 as units of small-mesh 

 gill nets lifted and in table 21 as percentages of 

 the 1929-1943 mean in individual districts- - 

 center of tables- -and in the combined districts 

 --right of table) decreased in 1954 in districts 

 M-l (table 21), M-2, M-4, M-5, and M- 7 and 

 increased in M-3, M-6, andM-8. The net 

 change was small- -an increase from 8, 551 to 

 8, 556 gill-net units in M-2 through M-8 and a 

 decrease from an index figure of 240 to one of 

 238 in all districts . Two factors contributed to 

 the disagreement between changes in number of 

 units lifted and in the intensity index. First, 

 the intensity index included an adjustment to 

 cover fishing pressure represented by the chub 

 fishery in district M-l. As is seen in table 21 

 this adjustment amounted to 0.6 unit in 1953 

 but was less than 0.05 in 1954. Second, under 

 the procedure employed in determining these 

 indices of fishing intensity the pressure repre- 

 sented by the lift of 10, 000 feet of gill nets, 

 though constant within a district, differs among 

 districts . Thus the estimate of fishing intensity 

 in combinations of districts depends both on the 

 amount of gear lifted and on the distribution of 

 the lifts among the districts . These points of 

 method are treated in some detail in the section 

 on fishing intensity. 



Fishing pressure in Wisconsin declined 

 in W-l, W-3, and W-4 and increased in W-2, 

 W-5, and W-6. The main-lake districts showed 



a net increase of 117 units--from 15, 366 in 1953 

 to 15,483 in 1954. 



The number of gill-net units lifted in 

 Illinois rose from 2, 036 in 1953 to 2, 590 in 1954-- 

 an increase of 554 . 



Fishing intensity for the entire lake, ex- 

 clusive of Green Bay, increased from 25., 953 

 units in 1953 to 26, 629 in 1954- -a rise of 676. 

 Fishing pressure continued to be much heavier 

 along the west than along the east and north 

 shores. The 1954 total of 18,073 units (34, 230 

 miles) of chub gill nets lifted in Wisconsin and 

 Illinois was 2.11 times the figure of 8, 556 units 

 (16, 205 miles) for State of Michigan waters . In 

 1953 the ratio was 2.04. 



The quality of chub fishing in State of 

 Michigan waters (catch per 10, 000-foot lift in 

 table 20; abundance indices in table 21) improved 

 in M-3 and M-4 but declined in the remaining 

 districts . The abundance index for the combined 

 districts dropped from 180 in 1953 to 170 in 1954. 



The catch per unit effort tended to de- 

 crease in Wisconsin also in 1954. The quality 

 of fishing improved slightly in W-2 and W-5 but 

 declined in the remaining districts. The average 

 of 397 pounds per 10, 000 -foot lift in W-3 through 

 W-6 was 15 above the mean of 382 pounds for the 

 main-basin districts of Michigan (M-2 and M-5 

 through M-8). 



The catch per unit effort in Illinois dropped 

 from 583 in 1953 to 565 in 1954. The relatively 

 high values, in comparison with Michigan and Wis- 

 consin waters, in both years can be attributed to 

 the smaller mesh fished in Illinois . 



49 



INT.-DUP. SEC. »ASH.. D.C. 98 70u 



