420 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The fishing- population of Lake Erie niunbers about -Ij^OO; the amount 

 of capital invested in the^ fishing- industry is -S-iSK^'JOO; the quantity 

 of fish caught in 1800 was 64,850,000 pounds, having a first value of 

 over $1,000,000. 



The prominent aspects of the fisheries of this lake are the large fleet 

 of steam vessels engaged in the gill-net fishery, and the large number 

 of steamers employed in collecting- fish from the pound net and other 

 fisheries — phases of the industry which are here more imixu'tant than 

 elsewhere in the lake system; the enormous amount of gill nets used 

 in the vessel and boat fisheries, the great development of the pound- 

 net fisheries, and the great distances to wliieh connected lines of pound 

 nets extend ; the com])leteuess with which the waters of the lake are 

 scoured with fixed and movable appliances of capture; the taking of 

 greater quantities of certain fishes than are obtained in all the other 

 lakes combined; and the extensive trade in lake fish carried on in the 

 cities bordering- on the lake. 



Of scarcely less importance than the actual extent of the fisheries of 

 the lake, is the serious decline which has recently been observed in some 

 of the most valuable food-fishes. The discussion of the exhaustion of 

 the fish supply of the lake, of the means to check a further diminution, 

 and of tl^e necessity of taking energetic measures for the increase of 

 the fish life has been one of the most noticeable public questions i)er- 

 taining to the lake fisheries in recent times, and the great interests 

 here at stake have fully warranted the attention already given and 

 deserve much further consideration. 



The inquiries conducted by this Commission show that the aggre- 

 gate yield of the fisheries of the lake in 1890 was probably larger than 

 at any previous time and was considerably larger than in any earlier 

 year for which data were available. The money value of the products 

 was but little less than in 1885 and much greater than in 1880. An 

 examination of the statistics, however, at once discloses the fact that 

 the catch has been maintained and increased only by the use of larger 

 quantities of apparatus and by the capture and utilization of the 

 cheaper species of fish, while even a very marked increase in the quan- 

 tity of fishing apparatus has not been able to keep up the supply of the 

 whitefish, sturgeon, and pike perches. 



N'otes on the principal fishes of the lalce. — The natural conditions in this 

 lake appear to be unusually favorable to the existence and production 

 of enormous quantities of desirable food-fishes, whose fecundity and 

 physical surroundings have made possible the extensive fishing which 

 this lake has for many years supported. The general shoalness of the 

 lake, while permitting the prosecution of the fisheries under conditions 

 that are the least conducive to the continuance of an unimpaired supply, 

 furnishes a large spawning area and ai)poars to favor the development 

 of a rich and varied fauna and flora having an important bearing on 

 the food supply of the economic fishes. 



Several fishes exist in greater numbers in Lake Erie than in any 



