REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. CXLI 



Comimrison of the yield of the fisheries of Lake Superior in 1S80, 1885, and 1890. 



It can not be said that the decline in tlie fislieries of this lake has 

 been principally due to a noteworthy or permanent diminution in the 

 abundance of fish. While individual localities reported a scarcity of 

 fish in 1890, the general opinion was that the catch was fully as good 

 as it had been for a number of years. The diminished output appears 

 to have been due almost entirely to the following circumstances : 



1. A change in the methods of preparing fish for market, as a result 

 of the growing demand for fresh fish. In 1885 3,910,250 pounds of 

 salt fish were prepared by the fishermen of this lake. In 1890 that 

 part of the yield sold in a salted condition amounted to only 1,378,261 

 pounds. As the best fish are usually salted only when they can not 

 be disposed of in a fresh, state, it follows that an increasing demand 

 for fresh fish and a dull market for salt fish will necessarily reduce 

 the output of localities that are remote from shipping centers. 



2. As has been seen, considerable capital formerly devoted to the 

 fisheries of the American side of the lake has been diverted to Cana- 

 dian waters, under the provisions of the tariff' law permitting the free 

 entry of fish owned by citizens of the United States. Several unfavora- 

 ble years and the supposed greater abundance of fish on the northern 

 side of the lake have caused some extensive dealers to transfer their 

 plants from American to Canadian ports, the home fishing being dis- 

 continued. The statistics show a decrease in the number of fishermen 

 and a corresponding decrease in the amount of apparatus in localities 

 from which wholesale purchasing houses have been removed. 



Gill nets are the most important apparatus employed in this lake; 

 they yield much larger quantities of products than all other means of 

 capture combined. In 1890 they were employed from vessels to the 

 number of 1,318 and from small boats to the number of 4,656. The 

 aggregate catch was 3,778,012 pounds, valued at $133,636, of which 

 2,709,693 pounds, valued at $92,550, were taken in the shore fishery, 

 and 1,068,319 pounds, worth $41,086, in the vessel fishery, the last- 

 named figures representing only whitefish and trout. 



Pound nets rank next to gill nets in the amount and value of the 

 fish taken. Five-sixths of the quantity and value of the yield consists 

 of whitefish. Trout and sturgeon are the only other fishes that are 

 important items in the catch. The results of the fishery in 1890 were 

 1,669,017 pounds, valued at $62,911. 



JSTone of the other forms of apparatus in this lake is very important. 



