FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES. 



419 



Canadian fisheries in ivhich Amcrieans are interested. — The fisheries 

 on the Caiiiidiau side of Lake St. (Jlair and St. Clair Eiver, carried, on 

 with property owned in part by citizens of the United States residing 

 at Detroit and Port Huron, are more extensive than those on the 

 American side of tlie lalve. Fishing is done with pound nets, gill nets, 

 and seines, and vessels are employed to collect and transport the fish; 

 one vessel is also used in gill-net fishing. The fish taken are catfish, 

 herring, pike, sturgeon, trout, and whitefish, the last-named being the 

 most imiiortant. 



Vessels, boats, apparatus, etc., employed in the fisheries of the Canadian side of Lake St. 

 Clair, in which citizens of the United States are interested. 



Products of the fisheries of the Canadian side of Lake St. Clair in which citizens of the 



United States are interested. 



LAKE ERIE. 



Importance and condition of the fisheries. — Although ranking fourth 

 in area, this lake maintains a fishing industry of vast extent and of 

 much greater importance than that of all the other lakes combined, 

 omitting Michigan, which it surpasses by 36 per cent in fishing popu- 

 lation, 49 per cent in invested capital, 60 per cent in the quantity of 

 fish taken, and 17 per cent in the value of the catch. The fisheries of 

 Lake Erie are thought to be more important than tliose of any other 

 body of fresh water in the world, and there are few, if any, lakes which 

 have afitbrded such a history of prolificness of fish life in proportion to 

 their size. To illustrate the relative productiveness of the American 

 waters of this lake, it may be noted that the average value of the catch 

 per square mile of lake surface is over $200, while in no other lake of this 

 system is the average more than $50, and in three of them is much less. 



