22 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



eiglitlis Indies from knot to knot. To allow for slirhika^e, after satura- 

 tion with tar, the mesh when netted should be at least three and seven- 

 eighths inches, extension-measurement. 



There are a few localities in the lakes where herring are utilized to a 

 large extent. In the shoal regions of the lakes, and especially in the 

 shallow bays, the lake-herring are abundant. In Green Bay, an arm of 

 Lake Michigan, to the south of the Menominee Iliver, at Mackinaw, 

 Mich., and viciuity, a good many lake-herriug are handled, though 

 they are by no means as valuable to the fishermen as either white-tish 

 or trout. In the western end of Lake Erie, especially in the vicinity of 

 Sandusky, Ohio, they are taken in large numbers. In all localities 

 where fishing is carried on with the pound-nets, or near the shore with 

 any nets, herring are taken to a limited extent, and are generally not 

 made use of. 



Of course when the fisheries depend on the catch of herring for their 

 support, a large mesh would be fatal to them, and it is doubtful whether 

 a mesh larger than one and one-half inches could be used with advantage. 



The statistics of nine j)rincipal fish-markets on the lakes show the 

 proportion of lake-herring handled to be one-sixth, while the low rates 

 herring command in the market would produce only about one-thirtieth 

 of the amount realized from the whole quantity of fish handled. This 

 shows the small value of the herring, to the fishermen, in the herring- 

 localities. In the whole product of the lakes it would be of much less 

 consequence. 



It will be seen, from the foregoing statements, that a law regulating 

 the size of mesh, to the great advantage of the better species of fishes, 

 would not be very injurious to thefishing-interests as a whole ifitallowed 

 the escupe of the herring. Still, as the discover}^ has been made, this 

 fall, that the herring feed very extensively on the spawn of white-fish, 

 there is an advantage in taking them from the lake. 



Prohibiting fishing at certain seasons of the year has been an ordi- 

 nary method of legislation in protecting the fish, and has proved to be 

 of great advantage in streams and inland waters. The great lakes, in 

 the particular of fishing, assume very much the character of the sea, 

 and the same class of legislation, benefiting streams and inland waters, 

 is not required for them. 



A close season, from Saturdaj' night to Monday morning, has been 

 recommended by State commissioners of some of the sea-board States. 

 This could be adopted in the case of the pound-nets, but it would not 

 be practicable with the gill-nets, as it would be nearly impossible for 

 the fishermen to take up several gangs of nets on Si'.turday night, and 

 reset them on Monday. 



In the case of the pound-nets, the extension of leaders to great dis- 

 tances from the shore is an abuse of the fishing-privileges, as it ob- 

 structs, to too great an extent, the natural runways of the fishes, and 



