REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. CXLIII 



. Apparatus and capital employed in Lake Michigan fialicriea. 



Designation. 



Number. 



Value . 



Vessels 



Tonnage 



Outfit 



Boats 



Apparatus of capture, vessel tisheries: 



Gill nets 



Apparatus of capture, shore fisheries : 



Pound nets 



Gill nets 



Fyke nets 



Seines 



Lines and spears 



Shore property 



Cash capital 



Total . 



50 

 793. 65 



1,052 



18, 810 



844 



22, 086 



731 



30 



$173, 350 



21, 318 

 71, 663 



106, 854 



244, 880 



109, 060 



11, 316 



3,480 



2,144 



434, 759 



258, 400 



1, 437, 224 



Products of Lake Michigan fisheries. 



Species. 



Herring 



Perch 



Pike and pike perch 



Sturgeon 



Suckers 



Trout 



Whiteflsh 



Other fish 



Total 



Poiiiids. 



26, 434, 266 



Value. 



830, 465 



The fisheries of Lake Michigan are more extensive than in 1880, but 

 somewhat less so than in 1885, when, as shown in a preceding general 

 table, more persons were engaged, more capital was invested, and more 

 money accrued from the sale of fishery products. In 1880 whitefish 

 constituted more than half the catch, in 1885 a little more than a third, 

 in 1890 about a fifth. Sturgeon have decreased in a still more marked 

 degree. Trout, however, have increased about 300 per cent, herring 

 200 per cent, and other fish between 300 and 400 per cent since 1880. 

 The aggregate catch shows an increase of about 3,300,000 pounds over 

 1880, and 2,900,000 pounds over 1885, although, owing to the prepon- 

 derance of the cheaper grades of fish, the value of the yield since 1885 

 has diminished $58,000. Following is a comparison of the production 

 of this lake in the three years named : 



Comparison of the yield of the fisheries of Lake Michigan in 1880, 1885, and 1890. 



