420 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF Fls;n AND FISHERIES. 



wlio in 1885 estiniiited that the waste in the gill-net fisheries of that city 

 alone was equal to the entire quantity of marketable Avhitefish landed 

 from ii'ill nets in the region west of Sandusky, or between 800,000 and 

 1,000,000 pounds. The same conditions obtain to-day, and there is no 

 reason to doubt that this waste continues on fully as large a scale. 

 Kecapitulating the foregoing; remarks, it is seen: 



1. That the abundance of whitetish in Lake Erie, as determined by the 

 quantity taken, has been diminishing since 1888, and the decrease in the 

 output in 1800, compared with 1885, amounted to over a million pounds. 



2. That the decline in the catch has been most marked in the gill- 

 net fishery carried on from the eastern end of the lake. 



3. That the market supply from year to year is being maintained 

 chiefly by employing larger quantities of fixed and floaring ai»])aratus. 



4. That there is no season when the fish may not be taken; and })rac- 

 tically the entire catch in pound nets in the western end of tlie lake in 

 the fall months consists of spawning fish. 



5. That there is enormous unnecessary waste of fish in the gill-net 

 fishery owing to the methods in vogue. 



The following important remarks on the deterioration of the Lake 

 Erie fisheries emanate from Mr. Seymour Bower, of the U.S. Commis- 

 sion of Fish and Fisheries, who has on two occasions made a personal 

 inspection of the inincipal fisheries of the lake, and is well qualified to 

 discuss the subject: 



I am not at all surprised at the decreased aud decreasing catch of fish in Lake 

 Erie. Indeed, under the conditions that prevail, the catch is remarkably well sus- 

 tained. I doubt if there is another body of water, fresh or salt, of equal area in the 

 world that is so thorouglily, persistently, and exliaustively canvassed. Surely none 

 of the other lakes of the great fresh-water cliaiu alVords a parallel, for the reason 

 that their greater depth jirecludes successful or, at least, profitable operations over 

 comparatively large areas. In a iishing sense, it is wholly within the power of man 

 to literally "clean out'" Lake Erie, though, of course, this event is not likely to 

 occur, since the destruction will naturally cease at the point of profitable returns. 



The constantly increasing demand for the products of the lake, due to an ever- 

 increasing population aud to improved facilities for distribution — and all, of course, 

 without a corresponding increase in the preducing area — has stimulated an excessive 

 drain on the source of supply. Without any thought for the morrow, methods that 

 are extremely wasteful are employed, in reckless disregard of the comnion welfare 

 and the perpetuity of the industry, legislative regulations and restrictions being for 

 the most part evaded, ignored, or defeated. 



In the face of all this, however, the catch seems well sustained. This can be 

 accounted for only on the theory — or I might say. the f;ict — that Lake Erie undoubt- 

 edly po.ssesses much greater productive capacity, greater fertility in water life, than 

 the deeper waters of the upper lakes. That "nature is full of compensations'" is 

 well illustrated here; the very shoalness that places its higher forms easily within 

 the reach of man is coincident with a degree of warmth highly favorable to a gen- 

 erous development of funda'mental water life. 



That the work of propagating whitefi.sh has failed to keep up the supi)ly of that 

 8i)ecies is not to be wondered at. "Wasteful instead of rational methods of eai>turing 

 the species have been practiced. Gill-net fishing in summer is responsible lor the 

 absolute waste of hundreds of tons of whitefish. Whitefish in gill nets drown easily 

 in a moderate current and spoil quickly when the water is warm; but, notwith- 

 standing this fact, the arrangements for setting and lifting are such that the nets are 



