FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES. 405 



sawmills and the gill-net men. The sawmills, thoy say, pollute the waters with 

 sawdust and vegetable refuse, and the gill-net men lose a great many nets, which, 

 with the fish in them, soon decay and hecome a putrid mass, which contaminates the 

 fishing-grounds and causes the iish to leave for other places. Mr. S. P. Wii-es reports : 

 " On two questions they all agree. First, twenty years and less ago the waters on 

 the shores of Alpena County swarmed with whitefish and trout. Second, to-day 

 these iish are not abundant. In 1883 the trap-net grounds of Thunder Bay failed for 

 the first time, and the fishing in 1884 was equally as bad." 



The same authority says that in his own opinion (as one interested in the fisheries, 

 but not actively concerned either with gill nets or trap nets) the decrease is owing 

 mainly to excessive and unwise fishing, especially during the spawning season. 

 When whitefish were abundaut their favorite spawning-ground was a shoal about 

 5 miles from the shore, which they visited in countless numbers during the month 

 of A'ovember. On this ground it was not an uncommon thing to catch in one net 200 

 pounds of whitefish during a single night, and boats often returned to their fish- 

 houses with from 20 to 30 barrels, taken at a single lift from a gang of twenty or 

 more gill nets. During a season hundreds and thousands of barrels of whitefish were 

 thus caught, the females being full of spawn, which was left to rot iu the ottal pile. 

 The water on the spawning-ground is 5 or 6 fathoms in depth, and being fully 

 exposed to the seas that roll on Lake Huron in November is stirred to the bottom 

 whenever a gale is raging from the northeast or southwest. At such times hundreds 

 of gill nets loaded with fish were swept away and never recovered by the fishermcji, 

 but remained on the bottom polluting the waters. Mr. Wires further states : 

 " Weeks before the spawning season commenced the gill nets and trap nets had 

 been at work catching fish full of unripe spawn. Is it, therefore, any wonder that 

 whitefish have decreased in numbers, and that once valuable fisheries have become 

 almost barren and worthless?" He says the fishermen look to artificial propagation 

 to restore the abundance of fish in this locality. 



In tlie fisheries of Alcona Connty wliitefisli, herring, and Menominee 

 whitefish are the only species taken. The decrease in the abundance 

 of fish at this place is doubtless attributable to the fact that the best 

 grounds formerly frequented by whitefish are literally covered with 

 refuse from the sawmill, consisting of bark and saw dust. Mr. Edward 

 Miller, of Alcona, and Oapt. J. E. Henderson, of Sturgeon Point, in this 

 county, stated that they had recently seen a great many small whitefish 

 and thought they were fish that had been i)ut into the lake by the 

 fish commissions, as no fish of similar size had been observed for a 

 great many years before. 



Along the shores of Iosco County there is so much refuse from saw- 

 mills thrown into the water that most of the fish are kept at some 

 distance from the shore, and pound nets can not be fished to advantage. 

 Even when the gill nets are set 6 or 8 miles from the shore, they are 

 often found full of bark, logs, etc., after a storm. Mr. James McCoy, 

 one of the oldest fishermen of Au Sable, states that he has had nets 

 completely ruined in two or three days by getting rolled up on the 

 bottom with a slime from decayed bark, etc., causing them to rot very 

 rapidly and become absolutely worthless. In the fisheries of Oscoda, 

 Au Sable, and vicinity trout are the most abundant fish taken with gill 

 nets and hooks, while whitefish and herring are the principal fish caught 

 in pound nets. A few sturgeon, pike perch, and other fish are also 

 taken in pound nets in the sirring fishery. The average weight of the 



