426 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



who in 1885 estimated tliat tlie waste in tlie gill-net fislieries of that city 

 alone was equal to the entire quantity of marketable whitefish landed 

 from gill nets in the region west of Sandusky, or between 800,000 and 

 1,000,000 pounds. The same conditions obtain to-day, and there is no 

 reason to doubt that this waste continues on fully as large a scale, 

 Kecapitulating the foregoing remarks, it is seen : 



1. That the abundance of whitefish in Lake Erie, as determined by the 

 quantity taken, has been diminishing since 1888, and the decrease in the 

 output in 1890, compared with 1885, amounted to over a million pounds. 



2. That the decline in the catch has been most marked in the gill- 

 net fishery carried on from the eastern end of the lake. 



3. That the market supply from year to year is being maintained 

 chiefly by employing larger quantities of fixed and floating apparatus. 



4. That there is no season when the fish may not be taken; and prac- 

 tically the entire catch in pound nets in the western end of the lake in 

 the fall months consists of spawning fish. 



5. That there is enormous unnecessary waste of fish in the gill-net 

 fishery owing to the methods in vogue. 



The following important remarks on the deterioration of the Lake 

 Erie fisheries emanate from Mr. Seymour Bower, of the F. S. Commis- 

 sion of Fish and Fisheries, who has on two occasions made a personal 

 inspection of the principal fisheries of the lake, and is well qualified to 

 discuss the subject: 



I am not at all surprised at the decreased, and decreasing catcli of fisli in Lake 

 Erie. Indeed, under the conditions that prevail, the catch is remarkably well eus- 

 tainied. I doubt if there is another body of water, fresh or salt, of equal area in the 

 world that is so thoroughly, persistently, and exhaustively canvassed. Surely none 

 of the other lakes of the great fresh-water chain affords a parallel, for the reason 

 that their greater depth precludes successful or, at least, i)rofitable operations over 

 comparatively large areas. In a fishing sense, it is wholly within the power of man 

 to literally ''clean out" Lake Erie, though, of course, this event is not likely to 

 occur, since the destruction Avill naturally cease at the point of profitable returns. 



The constantly increasing demand for the products of the lake, due to an ever- 

 increasing population and to improved facilities for distribution — and all, of course, 

 without a corresponding increase in the producing area— has stimulated an excessive 

 drain on the source of supply. Without any thought for the morrow, methods that 

 are extremely wasteful are employed, in reckless disrcigard of the common welfare 

 and the perpetuity of the industry, legislative regulations and restrictions being for 

 the most part evaded, ignored, or defeated. "• 



In the face of all this, however, the catch seems well sustained. This can be 

 accounted for only on the theory — or I might say, the fact — that Lake Erie undoubt- 

 edly possesses much greater productive capacity, greater fertility in water life, than 

 the deeper waters of the upjjer lakes. That "nature is full of compensations" is 

 well illustrated here ; the very shoaliiess that places its higher forms easily within 

 the reach of man is coincident with a degree of warmth highly favorable to a gen- 

 erous development of fundamental water life. 



That the work of propagating whitefish has failed to keep up the supi)ly of that 

 Bpecies is not to be wondered at. Wasteful instead of rational methods of capturing 

 the species have been practiced. Gill-net fishing in summer is responsible for the 

 absolute waste of hundreds of tons of whitefish. Whitefish in gill nets drown easily 

 in a moderate current and spoil quickly when the water is warm; but, notwith- 

 Btanding this fact, the arrangements for setting and lifting are such that the nets are 



