584 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
FISHERIES OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 
Although Lake Superior is larger and has a greater depth of water 
than any of the other Great Lakes, its fisheries are not extensive as 
compared with those of Lake Erie or Lake Michigan, and even less 
important than those of Lake Huron. The States bordering this lake 
are Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, all of which are more or 
less interested in the fisheries. 
The number of persons employed in the fisheries of Lake Superior 
in 1899 was 613. There were 72 in the vessel fisheries, 478 in the 
shore or boat fisheries, and 63 in the wholesale fishery trade and 
various occupations on shore connected with the fisheries. 
The amount of capital invested was $372,083. The number of ves- 
sels fishing and transporting fishery products was 10, valued with their 
outfits at $51,604, and the number of boats used in the shore fisheries 
was 305, valued at $27,245. The principal forms of fishing apparatus 
were gill nets, pound nets, and trap nets. The number of gill nets 
used on vessels was 3,273, worth $42,364, and on boats 3,956, worth 
$56,919; a total in both branches of the fisheries of 7,229, having a 
value of $99,283. The number of pound nets and trap nets operated 
was 162, valued at $25,820. Seines, fyke nets, dip nets, spears, and 
lines were also employed to a limited extent. 
The yield of the fisheries of this lake, including all species, aggre- 
gated 5,429,654 pounds, valued at $150,862. The vessel fisheries pro- 
duced 2,024,022 pounds, valued at $63,459, and the shore fisheries 
3,405,632 pounds, valued at $87,403. In the vessel fisheries the catch 
was taken wholly with gill nets, and in the shore fisheries 2,464,842 
pounds, $56,595, were obtained with gill nets, and 768,291 pounds, 
$25,478, in pound nets and trap nets, and 172,499 pounds, $5,330, 
with other forms of apparatus. The most important species taken in 
these fisheries were trout, 3,118,169 pounds, $100,699; white-fish, 
693,191 pounds, $25,547; herring, 1,125,478 pounds, $11,770, and 
bluefin white-fish, 485,060 pounds, $11,317. Wall-eyed pike, pickerel, 
yellow perch, rock bass, sturgeon, suckers, and bullheads were taken 
in smaller quantities. The catch of trout in both the vessel and shore 
fisheries was larger than that of any other species. The quantity 
taken by vessels was 1,563,799 pounds, valued at $49,887, and by boats 
in the shore fisheries 1,554,370 pounds, valued at $50,812. 
A comparison of the statistics for 1899 with those for 1893 shows a ° 
decrease of 303 in the number of persons employed, $156,941 in the 
amount of capital invested, and 2,667,273 pounds in the quantity and 
$101,245 in the value of the products. A scarcity of fish is reported 
from all the best fishing-grounds, and is most noticeable in those parts 
