384 KEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

 LAKE MICHIGAN. 



Importance of the fisheries. — The fishing industry of this lake is but 

 little inferior to that of Lake Erie in general extent and importance, 

 aiid exceeds that of all the other members of tlie Great Lakes com- 

 bined, excluding Lake Erie. Several features of the fisheries serve to 

 distinguish this lake from the others. The use of vessels for fishing is 

 more extensive than elsewhere in the lakes ; in fact, fullj^ half the fishing 

 vessels of the lakes are found in Lake Michigan, although the practice 

 of emplojang vessels for the special jjuri^ose of collecting fish is not so 

 common as in Lake Erie or Lake Huron. While there are several 

 prominent fishes which are found in much greater abundance in other 

 lakes than in Lake Michigan, the general fishery resources of the latter 

 are very large, and the two most popular food-fishes of the entire lake 

 region here exist in larger numbers and are taken in greater quantities 

 than in any other lake. A kind of whitefish not found in the other lakes 

 is an important economic product. 



While fishing is prosecuted in all the 35 counties of the four States 

 bordering on the lake, the industry is most extensive in the northern 

 third, particularly in Green Bay, Big Bay de ISToquet, Little Bay do 

 Noquet, Grand Traverse Bay, along the north shore, and round the 

 several groujis of islands which break the surface of the upper section 

 of the lake. Owing chiefly to the extensive use of vessels, the fisheries 

 of several lower counties of Michigan and Wisconsin also have con- 

 siderable importance. 



In Michigan the specially prominent counties as regards fisheries are 

 Schoolcraft, Mackinac, Delta, and Berrien; in Wisconsin the principal 

 counties are Brown, Door, Milwaukee, and Sheboygan. 



In the opinion of many fisherman, considerable damage has been 

 done to the fisheries of this lake by sawdust, which escapes from mills 

 situated on or near the lake and covers the feeding and spawning ^ 

 grounds of the principal fish. While most of the sawdust is consumed 

 by the mills in large kilns in consequence of a State law prohibiting its 

 deposit in the waters of the lake, nevertheless, much sawdust escapes 

 in various other ways than by directly throwing it in the water. 



Notes on the ijrinciijal fishes. — The fish which is the most important 

 factor in the fisheries of this lake is tiie lake trout. It is the most gen- 

 erally distributed of all the leading fishes, being taken in greater or 

 less quantities in every county and at practically every fishing ceiiter. 

 It is most abundant in the northern part of the lake, and is secured in 

 especially large numbers in the fisheries of Berrien, Charlevoix, Emmet, 

 and Schoolcraft counties in Michigan, and Door, ManitoAvoc, Milwaukee, 

 and Sheboygan counties, Wisconsin. Much the largest part of the catch 

 is taken with gill nets, although the pound-net yield is also important. 



The existence in this lake of the siscowet, or deep-water variety of 

 lake trout, which is so abundant in Lake Superior, was made known 

 in the previous report on the fisheries of the Great Lakes issued by the 

 Fish Commission. It is very common in the vicinity of the islands in 



