4.-THE FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES. 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



The fisheries of the Great Lakes, by reasoii of their great extent and 

 the energetic measures taken by the General Government and the 

 various States to maintain and increase their productiveness, have 

 received an unusual amount of public attention, wliich has been increas- 

 ing during late years, owing to the more extensive flsb-cultural opera- 

 tions carried on, the threatened depletion of some of the lakes, due to 

 wasteful methods or overfishing, and the growing necessity for concur- 

 rent action on the part of the several States and Canadian Provinces for 

 the preservation of this important industry. 



This Commission has aimed to keep well informed as to the status of 

 the lake fisheries and has within a comparatively short time conducted 

 two thorough investigations of the industry, viewed from the stand- 

 point of the economic fisherman. The first canvass of this region, since 

 the census of 1880, was made in 1885; the results of this comprehensive 

 investigation of the history, apparatus, methods, and statistics of the 

 fisheries were published in a report entitled " Review of the Fisheries 

 of the Great Lakes in 1885" (330 pages, 7 charts, and 37 illustrations of 

 fishes, apparatus, etc.). 



The present paper represents the results of an investigation of the 

 commercial fisheries of the Great Lakes conducted by tliis Commission 

 during the fiscal year 1892, and illustrates the condition and extent of 

 the industry during the year ending December 31, 1890. Notice of 

 the field work and a summarized account of the results of the inquiry 

 have appeared in my annual report for 1892. The following agents 

 of the Division of Fisheries participated in the investigation and can- 

 vassed the regions specified : W. A. Wilcox and T. M. Cogswell, Lake 

 Superior; E. E. Race and H. P. Parker, northern, western, and eastern 

 shores of Lake Michigan, south of and including South Haven; Ansley 

 Hall, eastern shore (Jf Lake Michigan north of South Haven ; W. A. 

 Wilcox, Lake St. Clair, St. Clair and Detroit rivers, and the fisheries of the 

 southern shore of Lake Huron tributary to Port Huron and the St. Clair 

 River; Charles H. Stevenson,theshoreof Lake Erie east of Port Clinton, 

 including the Bass Islands, and part of the shore of Lake Ontario 

 west of the Genesee River; and H. M. Smith, Lake Ontario, with the 

 exception of part covered by Charles H. Stevenson. Messrs. Seymour 



361 



