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680 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
FISHERIES OF LAKE ERIE. 
The total number of persons employed in the fisheries of Lake Erie 
in 1899 was 3,728. Of this number 574 were engaged on vessels fish- 
ing, 65 on vessels transporting, 2,401 in the shore or boat fisheries, 
and 688 were shoresmen. ‘The number of persons credited to the dif- 
ferent States bordering on this lake is as follows: New York, 976; 
Pennsylvania, 464; Ohio, 2,168, and Michigan, 120. The total invest- 
ment in the fisheries was $2,720,554. There were 85 vessels engaged 
in fishing, which were valued with their outfits at $352,281. There 
were also 19 transporting vessels, having a value with their outfits of 
657,696; the number of boats, including steamboats and launches 
under 5 net tons, was 876, valued at $79,466. The gill nets employed 
in the vessel fisheries numbered 29,018, and were valued at $160,870. 
The total value of the apparatus employed in the shore fisheries was 
$425,564, which sum includes $313,125, representing the value of 
1,298 pound nets. Shore and accessory property was valued at 
$1,050,977, and the cash capital employed amounted to $563,700. 
By far the greater part of the investment is credited to Ohio,‘the 
amount being $1,872,522. Pennsylvania ranks next in the importance 
of its fisheries, the investment being $456,102, followed by New York 
with an investment of $321,393 and Michigan with $70,537. 
The fisheries yielded 58,393,864 pounds of products, valued at 
$1,150,895. Herring is the principal species represented in the fish- 
eries of this lake, both in respect to quantity and value, the yield 
being 38,427,797 pounds, valued at $431,037. White-fish amounted 
to 2,066,314 pounds, valued at $152,009; blue pike, 4,544,786 pounds, 
ralued at $139,301, while other species yielded in important quan- 
tities were yellow perch, valued at $52,625; saugers, valued at $75,313; 
sturgeon, valued at $53,392; wall-eyed pike, valued at $86,455, and 
carp, at $51,456. The value of the yield of the fisheries in Lake 
Erie is divided among the different States as follows: Ohio, $677,305; 
Pennsylvania, $275,887; New York, $140,919, and Michigan, $56,784. 
The fisheries of Lake Erie are nearly equal in extent to those of all 
the other Great Lakes combined. Owing to the shallowness of this 
lake it is especially adapted to the prosecution of the pound-net fish- 
eries. The gradual development of the gill-net fishery with steam 
vessels has resulted in the extension of fishery operations to all parts 
of the lake. In 1899 the yield was nearly as great as in 1890, but 
there was a yreat decrease as compared with that year in the quantity 
of apparates cx»ployed and in the amount of capital invested. In 
1890, 34 steam vessels fished 19,046 gill nets, while in 1899, 85 vessels 
fished 29,018 gill nets. As the number of gill nets in the vessel fish- 
eries increases, the number used in the shore fisheries decreases. In 
