PROGRESS IN" BIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES, 192 7 219 



For the past two seasons weights of herring have been recorded 

 in order to show changes in the amount of fat and the condition of 

 the fish. In these two seasons, even, a variation of at least two weeks 

 occurred in the date at which the fish attained a condition suitable 

 for pickling. The investigation is being extended to southeastern 

 Alaska, where many samples of herring have been collected and pre- 

 served. These are being analyzed for racial characteristics, age, 

 weight, etc. A report on the investigation to date is almost com- 

 pleted for publication. 



INVESTIGATIONS OF INTERIOR WATERS 



GREAT LAKES 



After careful consideration of the numerous and varied problems 

 that confront the fishing industry of the Great Lakes, it was decided 

 to concentrate work on Lake Erie in an attempt to solve the many 

 disputed problems that engage the commercial fishermen there. The* 

 dissension among the Erie fishermen has reached such a state that 

 any attempt to effect immediate cooj^eration by framing regulatory 

 measures would be doomed to failure. It is essential that an im- 

 partial investigation be made of all the matters in dispute, no matter 

 how insignificant they may appear or how little value their settle- 

 ment may have from a scientific point of view. In working out a 

 program for Lake Erie, therefore, first consideration was given 

 those problems that were of interest to the fishermen, in the hope 

 that their solution might pave the way for uniform fishing laws on 

 this lake, and possibly on other l^kes, and for improvements in 

 regulations. Provision was made for the acquisition of data of 

 scientific value also. 



The Lake Erie program Avas initiated in August, 1927, at Ver- 

 milion, Ohio, under the immediate direction of Dr. John Van 

 Oosten. At first the lifts of the commercial nets of gill-net tugs 

 and of trap-net boats were studied on alternate days. The gill-net 

 fish were measured and weighed and samples of their scales taken. 

 Similar data were obtained from some of the trap-net fish, but vir- 

 tually all the work on trap nets was concerned with the classifica- 

 tion and enumeration of the number of legal and illegal fish of each 

 species taken, and the number of dead or seriously injured and of 

 the apparently uninjured illegal fish taken. This program was con- 

 tinued until mid-September, when the study of the samples from 

 experimental nets was begim. 



The experimental gill nets fished at Vermilion, Ohio, had 

 stretched mesh of the following sizes: 2%, 2%, S^V, 3i/^, 3^, and 

 8V2 inches; each special net was placed between two commercial 

 nets of 3-inch mesh. Length, weight, and scales of each fish taken 

 in each of the 13 nets were studied. The special experimental trap 

 nets fished at Sandusky, Ohio, had backs with mesh of the following 

 sizes: 2%, 2%, 2%, 3, and 3^/4 inches. Each special net was placed 

 between two commercial nets, thus making 11 experimental nets 

 in all. 



These observations provide data on the species composition of the 

 catch of each kind of net, fluctuations in relative abundance and size 



