FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES. 403 



to be completely covered with sawdust and slabs, wliich also extended 

 along the shore for 5 or 6 miles below that place. An agent of the 

 Commission, Mr. E. A. Tulian, found the sawdust in large heaps along 

 the shore for 5 miles below St. Ignace, where it had rolled up in such 

 quantities that the farmers in the vicinity were carting it away to be 

 used in leveling roads; the mill at the time of the agent's visit had 

 not been running for six months. 



Other causes assigned by the fishermen for the recent increased 

 abundance of this species are artiiicial propagation and enlargement 

 of the mesh in the bowl of the pound nets. 



The principal fishermen of this section think there will be no difiS- 

 culty in keei)ing up the supply of whiteflsh if liberal consignments of 

 fry are planted annually and the size of the mesh in the cribs of the 

 pound nets is regulated so as to permit the escape of immature fish. 

 In the vicinity of St. Ignace the fishermen want also a law to prohibit 

 the pollution of the lake either by sawdust or other refuse, and some 

 favor a close season on all kinds of fishing after l^ovember 1 for a 

 period of years in order to give trout and other fish whose abundance 

 has decreased a better opportunity to multiply. 



In the fisheries of the southern side of the Strait of Mackinac and 

 the adjacent western shore of Lake Huron, whitefish constitute fully 

 nine-tenths of the catch, the remaining species consisting of trout, pike 

 perch, herring, and sturgeon. During the last two years the number of 

 whitefish in the fisheries tributary to Mackinac City have been steadily 

 increasing. 



The only dealer at Mackinac City who has bought and handled fish 

 caught in that vicinity during the past six years says that it has been 

 no uncommon thing in the last two years to take 2,500 pounds of white- 

 fish from one small pound net in one night's fishing, while in previous 

 years if half that quantity was taken under similar circumstances it 

 was considered a big catch; he is satisfied that the fish now being 

 caught were planted in that vicinity by the United States and Michigan 

 fish commissions. 



In the vicinity of Cheboygan, while a great many trout are caught, 

 whitefish is the principal species. Every fisherman in this region has 

 commented on the very large increase in the number of whitefish caught 

 during the past two years. Mr. Maynard Corbett, of the fishing firm 

 of Corbett & Duffy, stated that he had fished in that vicinity for twenty- 

 five years, and up to two or three years ago the whitefish were becom- 

 ing scarcer each season, but during the past three years they have 

 undergone a marked increase in abundance. He is positive it is the 

 result of artificial propagation. He bases this opinion partly on the 

 circumstance that up to the last few years he never saw many small 

 whitefish around the grounds. In the spring of 1891, on the day when 

 his pound net on the east side of Bois Blanc Island was first hauled, 

 the whitefish completely filled the bowl and the net contained at least 



