KM 



Detroit, within the last month. I asked him what he 

 wanted. He said, "Come down here, I want to show 



you a barrel of fish. It is a d shame. We have 



fish here of your planting, and a dozen of them will 

 not give a half-pound." 



Mr. Amsdeu : Where were those fish taken ? 



Mr. Whitaker : At Grand Haven. They would 

 not average a half-pound to each white fish. There 

 were from two thousand to twenty-five hundred white 

 fish in a barrel. There were some heavy (?), and if not 

 heavy (?) were too small to be caught. I told the 

 dealer I would like to have his bill and letter. He 

 said I could have them both, and he gave them to me. 

 Unfortunately, in our state, the administration of the 

 fishery laws does not reside in the commission, but is 

 given to a separate bureau. Fortunately, however, we 

 have an active and efficient wardman there just now, 

 and after bringing this matter to his attention, and in 

 view of the fact that we have had eight years of ward- 

 manship there, and there had never been an enforce- 

 ment of the fisheries laws, he has taken steps to have 

 this matter investigated. The man said, in his letter, 

 that he could furnish a thousand pounds of fish a da}' 

 of this kind, and as two dealers were supplying them 

 there was sixty to seventy thousand pounds of white 

 fish a month, not within two years of tlie spawning 

 age. 



Mr. Amsden : What is the violation of law for 

 which the nets may be taken up ? 



Mr. Whitaker : The only law we have in Michigan 

 waters protecting white fish is a regulation we had 

 passed eight years ago regulating the size of the mesh. 

 We have nothing regulating the size of the fish. 



Mr. Amsden : What were the sizes of the nets ? 



Mr. Whitaker : The nets were seized because the 

 lowest size we permit is two and one half inch mesh, 

 and these were two and one fourth inches. As soon as 



