670 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
including both the eastern and western portions, are 2,100 square miles. For 
each of the five-year periods considered the plant on this area has been enor- 
mous—from about 28,000 to about 30,000 fry per square mile of whitefish area, 
or from 139 to 230 fry per pound of whitefish caught. At the same time the 
catch has increased, nearly doubling in the second period as compared with the 
first and then remaining practically constant during the third period. 
In Lake Ontario the area of whitefish ground on the Canadian side has been 
estimated at 1,400 square miles. The plant per square mile has been about 
one-tenth that in Lake Erie, while the catch has diminished appreciably, though 
not greatly. 
TABLE 14.—SHOWING THE AVERAGE CATCHES AND PLANTS OF WHITEFISH IN CANADIAN WATERS OF 
LAKES ERIE AND ONTARIO FOR THE THREE FIVE-YEAR PERIODS 1892 TO 1906, INCLUSIVE. 
Lake Erie, whitefish area 2,100 square miles. 
Catch. Plant. Nets. 
Wears, Total Pounds | Pounds Be es Fry per | Fry = Total Fathoms 
per square} per net- otal fry. square poun per square 
pounds. mile. fathom. mile. caught. fathoms. tile, 
1892-1896___-__-_- 199, 000 94 3.98 | 45,900,000 21,857 230 65,500 31 
1897-I1901_-__---- 354,000 168 3.08 | 60,500,000 28,857 171 124, 800 59 
I902-1906______- 355,000 169 1.87 | 62,000, 000 29,523 175 207,200 98 
Lake Ontario, whitefish area 1,400 square miles. 
1892-1896_____-- 291,000 207 I.91 4, 200,000 3,000 14 171,800 122 
1897—x79075~=-—-- 245,000 175 Danka 4,820,000 3,443 19 212,700 152 
1902-1906-______- 238,000 170 I.02 3,600, 000 2,571 15 214,000 153 
Unfortunately, we have no statistics of the catch of whitefish for the Ameri- 
can side of either Lake Erie or Lake Ontario for any continuous period of years, 
so we are unable to make comparisons with the Canadian side. In table 22 
there is shown the annual catch and plant in the whole of these lakes for the 
years 1899 and 1903, the only years for which statistics are available for the 
catch in which the true whitefish is separated from related forms in American 
waters. 
The statistics of the catch need not detain us here, but those of the plant 
are interesting since they show that for the first of these years the total plant in 
Lake Erie from all sources, Canadian and American, was about 197,000,000 fry, 
while the plant in Lake Ontario for the same year was less than one-tenth as 
great. In 1903 the plant in Lake Erie was still nearly four times that in Lake 
Ontario. Not only is there this very great difference in the plant in these two 
lakes, a difference which exists in other years also, but it is extremely probable 
that the Lake Erie plant on the American side affects the catch on the Canadian 
side. The whitefish area of Lake Erie is practically continuous for the eastern 
