FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES. 427 



raised only once in two to four days, and storms that prevent lifting until tli« catch 

 is almost a total loss are not uncommon. Of course, on the whole, more salable fish 

 are taken in this way than would be with fewer nets lifted daily, but the plan is a 

 highly improvident and wasteful one and, naturally, a considerable proportion of 

 the catch is thrown on the market in a more or less unwholesome state. Summer 

 gill netting in Lake Erie is an evil that should be abolished on sanitary as well as 

 economic grounds. 



A considerable number of small whitefish are also taken in the small mesh or 

 "herring" gill nets, and the claim is freely made that the pound nets from Ver- 

 million to Erie take a good many very small whitefish, but I do not know to what . 

 extent this is true. 



The pound nets west of Sandusky take no small whitefish; in fact, a specimen of 

 less than a pound Aveight very rarely occurs in that section. But these nets, also 

 those along the Huron shore, catch immense numbers of fish that are too small for 

 market. I have seen thousands upon thousands of small pike perch and other val- 

 uable commercial varieties brought ashore and thrown away. Here is a tremendous 

 waste of raw material, for such of these small fish as do not survive to maturity at 

 least serve the purpose of food supply for the larger ones. 



The adoption of measures to correct the evils referred to would, no doubt, practi- 

 cally suspend fishing operations in a few cases or places, and for a time place some- 

 thing of a burden on vested interests, but it seems to be one of those rare cases 

 where the end justifies the means. The perpetuity of the interests directly involved 

 is at stake, and individual interests that survive only at such heavy cost to the com- 

 mon welfare, that are sustained only through flagrant though incidental violation 

 of economic law, have no moral right to exist. 



Gill-net fishing, as apx)lied to the capture of spawning fish from the spawning beds 

 and reefs,, is regarded by many, particularly the pound-net interests, as peculiarly 

 destructive and reprehensible, but I take precisely the opposite view. Compara- 

 tively few fish are now enabled to evade the maze of nets and barriers se t to intercept 

 their progress and reach the spawning-grounds. If none were allowed to do so, 

 the reproductive function would be wholly subverted; no spawn would be cast, 

 none would be available for artificial treatment, and the inevitable result would 

 be 6i)eedy extermination. On the other hand, it would be far better if every fish 

 could reach the spawning-grounds, even though the last one was captured there, for 

 then most of the spawn would be mature and available for natural or artificial 

 processes. Greater freedom should be given the migratory run of spawning fish 

 by restricting the length and number of pound nets in a stand, also limiting the 

 number and length of gill nets per boat or crew. 



As we can not " eat the cake and keep it too," I do not think that there should be 

 any closed seasons for Lake Erie, except during the summer, when a good portion 

 of the " cake" is spoiled and wasted. Nor do I think that any form of apparatus 

 should be favored or abolished by law, except as this might occur incidentally 

 through tlie enforcement of the paramount point of preventing the wholesale waste 

 of adult and inmiature fish. 



It seems to me that there are no seriously objectionable features incidental to the 

 measures above indicated, nor no insurmountable obstacles in the way of applying 

 them in practice. The main points are a closed season in summer, releasing or per- 

 mitting the eKcajie of immature fish, and restricting the number and length of nets. 

 'J'liese nii-asures, in connection with the saving and return, through the medium of 

 artilicial propagation, of what would otherwise be a total loss, should develop and 

 hold up indolinitely the productive capacity of Lake Erie or any other water to Its 

 highest practical point. 



I do not, however, look for the accomplishment of these results through the medium 

 of State legislation. Local and sectional interests, complicated by the friction and 

 antagonisms existing between the advocates of different forms of apparatus, will 

 doubtless continue to act as a bar to the adoption and enforcement of such impartial 



