FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES. 



77 



fisliermcu free of charge, on condition that fish be returned to the 

 firms lurnishing the packages and that the supplies needed in the fish- 

 eries be purchased from them. A slight charge is made for the empty 

 packages, but the fishermen are credited for the amount when the 

 barrels are returned filled. 



In salting fish the method is as follows: The heads and viscera are 

 removed and the fish are split down the belly like a codfish, though 

 the backbone is not removed. Tliis practice, together with the shrink- 

 age from salting, makes a loss of one-fourth or one-third in the original 

 weight of the fisli. The price received for the salt fish is about the same 

 as that commanded by fish when sold fresh in a round condition. 



Whitefish have for a number of years been graded as iSTos. 1, 2, and 

 3; ISTo. 1 to weigh 2 pounds or over; No. 2, from 1 to 1^ pounds, and 

 No. 3, 1 pound or less. Previous to 1891 trout were all branded No. 1, 

 regardless of size. In that year, however, the trade began packing 

 and numbering the salt trout as follows: No. 1 to weigh Impounds or 

 more, and No. 2 under 1 J pounds. The rules as to packing and grading 

 are unwritten laws of the trade, not being subject to legal regulations. 



Statistics of LaJce Superior fisheries. — In the following tables, the 

 extent of the fisheries of Lake Superior is shown by States and coun- 

 ties. Tlie tables relate to the persons employed in difiere.nt capacities, 

 the vessels, boats, apparatus, and capital devoted to the industry, and 

 the quantity and value of the products taken. For the products, three 

 tables are sho\Yn, one giving the catch of the eiitire lake, classified by 

 species, another showing the results of the vessel fishery, and the third 

 giving in great detail the catch of each form of apparatus. 



Talic showing hy States and counties the nnmler of persons employed in the fisheries of 



Lake Siq}crior in ISOO. 



