562 



U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



The whitefish and sturgeon, although extremely abundant at first, 

 soon decreased because of wasteful fishing methods and the pollution 

 of shores by sawdust, fish oft'al, etc., and the gill-net fisheries were 

 carried into deeper water, where chiefly trout were caught. A few 

 boats also fished with hooks for trout on the west shore as early as 

 1870, but the method decreased in efi'ectiveness as the trout supply 

 fell off, and not until about 1900, with the perfection of a new tecli- 

 nique, did hook fishing begin to assume an important role in fishing 

 methods. 



The predilection for smoked fish of the Teutonic peoples who 

 settled abundantly along the shores soon gave rise to another in- 

 dustry. About 1880, out of Milwaukee, a fisherman began bringing 

 ashore the deep-water herring that became snarled in abundance 

 in his trout nets, and finding them suitable for smoking on account 

 of their rich flesh, he began to fish nets of 3-inch mesh for them. 

 During the nineties this method of fishing spread to almost all the 

 ports on the lake where gill nets were used, and the maximum annual 

 output probably approached 10,000,000 pounds. These fish have 

 decreased decidedly in abundance, and where previously boats 

 fished for nothing else, now all boats use small-meshed nets only 

 when it is most profitable. With the decrease of the whitefish 

 and stiU"geon from the shores the pound nets depended chiefly on 

 suckers, perch, and other "rough fish," and latterly pounds have 

 given place, as elsewhere, to the less expensive trap net as a means of 

 taking such fish. 



The quality of the production has varied with the change in appa- 

 ratus, but since these changes did not affect the entire lake at the same 

 time, but rather were instituted in different sections as conditions 

 demanded them, statistics, unless they be very detailed, can not be 

 expected to reflect their effects. The nine censuses made by the 

 Federal Government do not give the required details, but they show 

 in a very general way what the, trend has been. In Table 1 is given 

 the relative abundance of the principal commercial species for the 

 nine years when censuses were taken. The interesting features of 

 the table are the decHne of the sturgeon to insignificance after 1890, 

 the increase in importance of the trout after 1880, and the immense 

 increase in the importance of the chub fisheries and the improvement 

 in whitefish production between 1899 and 1922. 



Table 1. — Relative abundance as shown by the weight, in pounds, of the annual 

 catch of the principal commercial species of fish of Lake Michigan, as shown by 

 various censuses 



Species 



Whitefish- -. 



Sturgeon 



Herring and 

 chubs 2 



Trout.. 



Perch (in- 

 eluding 

 some white 

 bass) 



Suckers 



1880 



12, 030, 000 

 3, 839, 000 



3, 050, 000 

 2, 659, 000 



8, 682, 000 

 1,406,000 



3, 312, 000 

 6,431,000 



1890 



5, 455, 000 

 946, 000 



6, 082, 000 

 8, 364, 000 



1,943,000 

 1, 800, 000 



1893 



2, 330, 000 

 311,000 



13, 279, 000 

 8, 216, 000 



3,451,000 

 1, 690, 000 



1, 510, 000 

 108, 000 



22, 072, 000 

 5, 488, 000 



3, 077, 000 

 1, 043, 000 



1903 



1, 972, 000 

 66,000 



14, 684, 000 

 9, 049, 000 



3,313,000 

 2, 917, 000 



1908 



2, 490, 000 

 70,000 



21,842,000 

 7, 892, 000 



3, 256, 000 

 2, 510, 000 



3,047, 

 1 10, 



18, 259, 

 8, 650, 



2, 362, 

 2,118, 



1, 547, 000 

 9,000 



6, 810, 000 

 8, 735, 000 



1,244,000 

 1, 519, 000 



1 Closed season ou sturgeon in Wisconsin. 



' After 1885 the catches are in large part chubs. 



• Not itemized. 



SB'ain. 



