58,8 



U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



ployed, so that it is not possible to state how the constitution of the 

 catches of the various kinds of apparatus has changed from year to 

 year. 



The fisheries have always been of more importance on the American 

 shore, though the relative importance has changed decidedly in 

 recent years. Where in 1885, with a catch of 51,456,000 pounds in 

 American waters, the ratio between American and Canadian pro- 

 duction stood 6.7 to 1 in favor of the United States, in 1899, with a 

 catch of 58,393,000 pounds, the ratio was 5.7 to 1, and in 1922, with a 

 catch of 55,079,000 pounds on the American shore, it had dropped 

 to 3.1 to 1 in favor of the United States. Production on both sides 

 of the lake has varied considerably from year to year in the last few 

 decades, and this variation has not always been correlated with varia- 

 tions in the amount of apparatus employed. In the two succeeding 

 paragraphs sufficient data are given to show what the relation of 

 apparatus and production has been, and a discussion of the changes in 

 the quality of the production follows. • 



According to the latest statistics issued by the Bureau of Fisheries, 

 in 1922 there were engaged in the fisheries in American waters 1,041 

 vessels and boats, which operated 42,404 gill nets, 3,931 trap and 



f)ound nets, and 213 seines. In Table 7 are given the statistics of the 

 ast three censuses made of the fisheries on the American side of Lake 

 Erie, showing the relation between apparatus and catch. The figures 

 for traps, pounds, and seines are the highest on record, and only in 

 1890 were more gill nets reported. The number of vessels and boats 

 employed (608 in 1903; 1,133 in 1917; and 1,063 in 1922) is the highest 

 since 1893. 



Table 7. — Relation between gear employed and production of fish in the American 

 waters of Lake Erie since 1903, as shown by censuses taken from 1903 to 1922 



The entire 1917 production was over 3,000,000 pounds less than 

 that of 1908. which was 41,906,000 pounds; but the catch for 1908 

 was almost double that shown by the census of 1903. The catch in 



