FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES. 425 



Com paring the number set in 1885 witli those operated in 1890, the 

 latter year shows an increase of 137 nets, or 20 per cent. The output in 

 the same period declined about 15,000 pounds, or 4 per cent, whereas, 

 other things being equal, there should have been an additional catch 

 of 93,000 pounds. 



Coming now to a consideration of the iniiuences which have operated 

 to produce this serious impairment of the whitefish fishery — and the 

 same influences have in a general way aflected the other fisheries — it 

 may first be stated that the opinion is quite generally entertained 

 among the fishermen and dealers of some localities that the supply of 

 whitefish is being gradually reduced throughout the entire lake by over- 

 fishing, the effects of which nature and art combined are not able to 

 successfully overcome. Others, it should be said, think the decline is 

 only temporary and simply indicates a fluctuation in the catch entirely 

 dependent on natural conditions. 



It is well known that the shoal water everywhere in Lake Erie is 

 very favorable to the capture of the whitefish as well as other spe- 

 cies. There is scarcely a spot which affords even temporary shelter to 

 the fish. During the greater x)art of the year, when the great body 

 of whitefish is found iu the eastern end of the lake, they are systemat- 

 ically and persistently sought for with gill nets operated from steam, 

 sail, and row boats. In tbe early winter, when the fish begin to move 

 toward the western end of the lake for the purjDose of spawning, the 

 pursuit with gill nets continues with relentless energy. In the western 

 part new dangers await migrating fish in the thousand or more pound 

 nets. These, in some localities, form impassable barriers between indi- 

 vidual islands or between islands and the mainland, while other stands 

 extend in almost unbroken lines from the shore half across the lake. It is 

 therefore not surprising that natural reproduction, which supervenes 

 upon the arrival of the fish off the Michigaji shore, should be seriously 

 impaired and that the catch of whitefish should be declining. 



Mr. Seymour Bower, the agent who canvassed the major part of the 

 fisheries of Lake Erie in 1885, called attention to the great destruction 

 of whitefish in the gill net fishery independently of the fish necessarily 

 sacrificed for food. It was stated, on Mr. Bower's authority, that — 



Gilled whitefish soon cTrown if tliere is much current, as there generally is at this 

 [the eastern] end of the lake, and then bloating and decomposition ensue in a few 

 hours. The arrangement of the nets is such that each gang is lifted not oftener 

 than once in two or three days, and in summer there is inrariably a considerable 

 number of spoiled fish at each lift; not infrequently, when a storm or blow occurs 

 and the lifting is delayed a day or two, more than half the fish are found to be 

 rotten and are stripped out and thrown back into the lake. — (Review of the Fish- 

 eries of the Great Lakes in 1885, p. 281.) 



This condition of aifairs is generally recognized, and, while an accu- 

 rate determination of the amount of this w'aste is, of course, impossible, 

 and while even a close approximation is difficult, nevertheless some 

 idea may be gained of the enormous destruction of fish by repeating 

 the opinion of a prominent and thoroughly reliable dealer of Erie, Pa., 



