FISHII^G INDUSTRY OF THE GREAT LAKES 587 



this lake is extremely complicated. For that reason in the historical 

 treatment emphasis will be laid on the changes in production rather 

 than on the modes of production. 



Fishing is said to have been begun on Lake Erie as early as 1815. 

 Seines were used, chiefly in the rivers and bays, until about 1850, 

 when pound nets were mtroduced at the west end and gill nets at 

 the east end in the American waters. The first species sought to be 

 taken mth the new apparatus was the whitefish, but soon small- 

 meshed nets were used for other species. Commercial fishing appears 

 to have been in full swing by 1870, and has grown in intensity since 

 then. Gill nets, pound nets, trap nets, fyke nets, seines, and set 

 lines were the chief apparatus employed on the American shore, 

 similar apparatus being used in Canadian waters except that no 

 trap nets were allowed. 



On no other lake has the use of pounds and traps assumed such 

 proportions as on Lake Erie. The shore fisheries — that is, the 

 fisheries conducted with pound nets, trap nets, and gill nets by small 

 boats along the shores — have been extremely important on both 

 sides of the boundary, and the output has exceeded that of the large 

 boats fishing gill nets only. In late years, on thp American shore, 

 the pound net has been almost entirely replaced by the crib net, 

 which has a much lower original cost and can be moved at will. 

 The gill-net fisheries have increased in importance with the introduc- 

 tion, about 1899, of the steam lifter, an improvement which made it 

 possible for every boat to handle a great many more nets, and latterly 

 with the practice of floating gill nets. Nets have been extensively 

 floated since about 1903, and bull nets have become more and more 

 widely used since about 1906, chiefly in American waters (see descrip- 

 tion on page 558) , practices that have made it possible for fish to be 

 caught while smmming oft' the bottom and which have increased the 

 catch of the fish considerably. 



In 1879 most of the gill netting on the American shore was carried 

 on east of Ashtabula and practically aU pound netting west of that 

 place. Thereafter the use of gill nets in conjunction with the pound 

 nets was begun, until in 1899 most of the giU nets as well as pound 

 nets were owned in the west. By 1903 the pendulum had started to 

 swing back, and in 1922 the giU nets were again owned chiefly in the 

 east. In 1890 gill nets took most of the blue pike, sturgeon, white- 

 fish, and trout, while the majority of herring, yellow perch, saugers, 

 waU-eyed pike, catfish, and practically aU other fish were taken in 

 other nets. (While the pounds took the larger quantity of herring, 

 the fish were smaller and brought less return to the fishermen.) In 

 1903 giU nets took most of the herring, blue pike, whitefish, and yellow 

 perch, and excepting the seines, which took all the carp, the rest of 

 the species were taken in greatest abundance in other gear. In 

 1922 the gill nets took only herring in greatest abundance, and again 

 excepting the seines for carp, all other species were taken most 

 abundantly with traps and pounds. 



West of Port Stanley, on the Canadian shore, pound netting has 

 been the principal industry. Gill netting was carried on chiefly from 

 Port Dover eastward until about 1905, when Port Stanley became the 

 principal gill-net center on the lake and has remained so since, but the 

 east has owned the bulk of the remaining gill nets. The Canadian 

 statistics do not separate the production according to apparatus em- 



