FISHERIES OF THE GRE'AT LAKES. 443 



use in the sontbern Kew E)",gl;in(l States. It is smaller than the ordi- 

 nary lake ])onnd net, is held in position by means of weights and buoys 

 instead of poles, and the escape of the iish from the bowl is i)revented 

 by a top of netting. 



Th'e use of trap nets is more extensive in this lake than in any other 

 member of the lake system. The explanation is that the stony char- 

 acter of the bottom in the most favorable fishing regions prevents or 

 nmkes diflicnlt the driving of pound-net poles, and that legal enact- 

 ments have prohibited the setting of such apparatus in the inshore 

 waters in most places. 



The important advantages which the trap net has over the pound net 

 are that it may be readily moved from place to place to corresi)oud with 

 the movements of the fish, and that an entire net may be taken ashore 

 from time to time, repaired, cleaned, and dried. It is comparatively 

 inexpensive, and individual fishermen can afford to operate as many 

 as 8 or 10 at one time. It is set on the bottom in water from 10 to 25 

 feet deep, and is drawn daily or less frequently, according to the abun- 

 dance of fish, the condition of the weather, state of the market, etc. 

 It is well adapted to the capture of whitefish, lake trout, sturgeon, 

 perch, suckers, and wall-eyed pike. More trout and wall-eyed pike are 

 thus taken than with all other appliances combined. A form of trap 

 with a finer mesh, known as an eel trap, is used in some numbers for 

 eels, which are thus caught in larger quantities than with any other 

 ai^paratus excej)t fyke nets. 



A few pound nets are operated by fishermen of Three-Mile Bay, 

 Black River Bay, and Sacketts Harbor, about a dozen nets being used 

 annually in recent years. They are of small size, and are set close 

 inshore, catching herring and other fish that resort to the shores. 



Gill nets rank next to traps in value and surpass them in the quantity 

 and value of the catch. They are generally used throughout the lake, 

 but are most extensively em])loyed in Jefferson and Niagara counties. 

 Whitefish and trout gill nets have a 3-inch mesh; 20 or 22 rods of rigged 

 netting represent 1 pound of twine. The usual complement of a 

 boat in the eastern part of the lake, where most of the whitefish and 

 trout are caught, is 100 to GOO rods. Herring and long-jaw gill nets 

 have l^J-inch mesh ; when ready for fishing 1 pound makes 14 to 20 rods 

 of netting. The price of a fully rigged net ranges from $4 to $0 per 

 pound, depending on various circumstances. In the important long-jaw 

 fisheries of Niagara County each gill-net boat employs about 50 pounds 

 of netting in a season, about 12 pounds being in the water atone time. 

 These nets, fitted for deep-water fishing, cost $G per pound when fully 

 rigged. In the eastern end of the lake the quantity of netting used by 

 a boat varies from 100 to 000 rods, the average being about 300 rods. 

 The gill nets fished for sturgeon have a G-inch mesh, bar measure; 1 

 pound of the twine makes a net about 120 feet long. In some i>laces 

 only to 12 pounds are fished by a single boat, but in the eastern end 

 of the lake the sturgeon nets are very long, single boat crews operating 

 several hundred rods of netting. 



