THE SEA FISHERIES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 193 
by a chain, so that it will touch the bottom and not permit fish to go underit. [Dia- 
gram of trap exhibited.] The trap is only used in the waters of Rhode Island, and is 
used for scup, tautog, and sea-bass. There are no stakes used to the trap. It is a 
rectangular space of netting held at the corners by anchors. The fish go along the 
leaders and pass into the receptacle. The trap requires constant watching, or the fish 
could goin and out. The moment a school of fish enter, the netting at the end is 
raised. They pursue the same mode of emptying, and turn the fish into the pocket, 
as with pounds. 
Q. The difference is that in the case of pounds, it is not necessary that boats should 
be employed to visit them frequestly ?—A. In stormy weather you sometimes cannot 
get to a pound for a week. In the case of traps they are visited three or four or half 
a dozen times aday. When the boats off shore see a school of fish enter the trap, they 
follow and take it whether large or small. [Diagram of weir exhibited.] This weir 
consists of a small circle of brush or boards, with two wings and a spring. The fish 
come into the weir at high tide, and as the water falls they are left in a cavity inside 
the weir, and are taken out in dip-nets. There are a dozen or twenty different forms 
of constructing weirs. 
Q. What is the estimated cost of a pound ?—A. $1,000 will pay for the construction 
of a very good pound, including the entire equipment. A pound is managed by from 
_ two to four men, while a trap requires two boats and about seven men. 
Q. The trap is more expensive?—A. About the same cost as the pound, because, al- 
though it has no stakes, yet it requires to be of very considerable size and needs 
anchors. Ishould presume that the first cost of the two would not be very different. 
Q. And what is the cost of a weir ?—A. It isa simple thing. The cost merely rep- 
resents the lumber and labor. 
Q. That is a permanent erection ?—A. Yes; the others are all taken up; the traps 
are only kept down six weeks in the year; the pounds are down for from two months 
to five, and at the end of the season they use an apparatus to pull the stakes out of 
the water, and then pack them on shore for next season. 
Q. What are the kinds of fish taken in the great lakes ?—A. There is a great variety 
of fish taken there, but the most important fish, as a matter of business, are the white- 
fish, lake herring, lake trout, wall-eyed pike, muskalonge, sturgeon, and a variety of 
others. The most important, however, are whitefish, herring, and trout. 
Q. What are the methods of taking them?—A. They are taken very largely by 
pounds, which are constructed ona very large scale, and much more elaborate and ex- 
pensive than on the coast. They are taken by gill-nets very largely, and by seines 
under certain circumstances. At a certain time of the year, whitefish can be taken 
in great quantities in seines, and kept in pounds until ready for market. 
Q. Are those built and constructed to a great extent along both the Canadian and 
American shores?—A. I presume they are used in Canada, though I cannot say. I 
know they are on our own coasts. There is quite a number of these pounds worked 
by Canadians on the American coast. 
Q. Have you any statistics respecting the lake fishery for the years 1876 and 1877 ?— 
A. [have only partial statistics for 1577. I published the statistics in detail in my 
report for 1872, and I am now having statistics for 1877 collected, and will have them 
I suppose by the end of the season. 
Q. 1872 represents but faintly the present state of things. Can ' you tell us how it 
was in 1872?—A. In 1872 the American production of fish in the great lakes was 
32,250,000 pounds. That quantity of fish was taken, but how much more I cannot 
say. Those were marketed at Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago, and many other stations. 
Q. Does that include the Canadian catch?—A. I presume there is no Canadian catch — 
in that amount. Those are the figures as they were obtained hah my agents, from the 
fishermen and dealers. 
Q. You obtained them from the dealers in the large cities ?—A. Yes; and the fish- 
S. Mis. 90-——13 
