THE WHITEFISH PRODUCTION OF THE GREAT LAKES. 667 
this offers an isolated whitefish area unconnected with that to the north or 
south of it, and for the further reason that the statistical returns from this 
remote area show stich extraordinary fluctuations in catch, plant, and 
amount of nets used as to make them of little value. The Canadian side of 
Lake Superior shows a whitefish area of 3,600 square miles, stretching from the 
St. Marys River westward to the Minnesota boundary. On the Michigan shore 
there has been a very large annual plant of whitefish fry, averaging 11,000,000 
in the first period, 22,000,000 in the second period, and 15,000,000 in the third 
period. This amounts to about 5,000 fry planted annually per square mile of 
area during the first period, 9,000 during the second period, and 6,000 during the 
third period. For each pound of fish taken out there has been planted during the 
first period an annual average of 5 fry, during the second period an annual aver- 
age of about 19, and during the third period an annual average of more than 12. 
These values would be greatly increased if they were made to include the Wis- 
consin plants, which are indicated by the footnote in table 2, but not included 
in the calculations in table rr. 
TABLE 11.—COMPARISON OF THE AVERAGE CATCHES AND PLANTS OF WHITEFISH IN MICHIGAN AND 
CANADIAN WATERS OF LAKE SUPERIOR FOR THE THREE FIVE-YEAR PERIODS 1892 TO 1906, 
INCLUSIVE.@ 
Michigan waters, whitefish area 2,400 square miles. 
Catch. Plant. Nets. 
Years. Pounds Pounds Fry per Fry per Fathoms 
Total Total 
anictis per square | per net- Total fry. square pound fathonis per square 
Pp : mile. fathom. mile. caught. 5 mile. 
1892-1896_-_---- 2,117,000 88r 3.22 | 11,057,000 4,607 5.2 703,300 203 
Te97—TW9or- 2 5- = I, 169,000 487 1.58 | 21,858,000 9,178 18.8 750,300 312 
1902-1906 -_--__- I, 193,000 497 ~9I 15, 268, 900 6,362 12.8 I, 231,300 513 
Canadian waters, whitefish area 3,600 square miles. 
1892-1896_____-_-_ I, 123,000 312 OF BA Se tas te eae re A ees eres I51I,500 42 
T897—T9SD—-_ =---= 591.000 164 2.48 700,000 194 243,800 67 
1902—71906— -_-= ._ 462,000 128 Pn Vi en Se Ae See cee ee ee Sl eee eS 200,000 57 
@ Exclusive of Isle Royal. 
If we compare the catches over this area for the three periods, we see that 
while there was a decline of nearly a million pounds in the annual average 
between the first period and the second, there was a slight increase in the third 
period as compared with the second. The whitefish production of this area is 
therefore not decreasing; it is increasing. This increase has been accompanied 
by a considerable increase in the length of nets used, but as will appear in 
another place in this paper there seems to be good reason for the belief that an 
increase in the length of nets used is not sufficient to account for the increase 
