430 REPOKT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHKRII S. 



both (luaiitity and value, is the lake herring-; over 9,000,000 ijouuds, 

 worth ^10L*,000, resulted from this fishing in the various parts of the 

 lake. Xext in prominence is the blue i)ike, of which about 2,04S,()00 

 pounds, valued at $57,700, were taken. Whitetish is the only other 

 fish of special importance in the vessel fishery; 817,000 pounds of this 

 were secured, witli a value of $40,8.50. The remaining fish obtained are 

 perch, saugers, sturgeon, trout, wall-eyed pike, and a few minor species, 

 all caught in small quantities. The yield of whitefish is largest in the 

 vessel fishery from Dunkirk, N. Y. ; herring, blue pike, and trout are 

 most important in Erie, Pa.; perch, saugers, and wall eyed pike figure 

 most conspicuously in the fisheries of Cleveland, Ohio. 



Since 1885 the changes in the vessel fisheries of this lake have con- 

 sisted in a slight decrease in the number of steam vessels using gill 

 nets, an increase of nearly 100 per cent in the number of collecting- 

 steamers, and the introduction of fishing steamers into the fisheries of 

 Dunkirk and Buffalo, N. Y., where they were not previously operated. 



Statistics of the fisheries. — The following series of detailed tables 

 illustrates the various features of the extensive fisheries of this lake. 

 The tables, which relate to the counties, show (1) the persons engaged 

 in different capacities; (2) the vessels, boats, apparatus, etc., employed; 

 (3) the quantity and value of the catch; (4) the output of the vessel 

 gill-net fishery; and (5) the quantity and value of the products resulting 

 Irom the use of each kind of apparatus in the sliore and boat fisheries. 



Two vessels belonging at Detroit fished during a part of the year in 

 Lake Erie, and took the following quantities of fish, which have been 

 credited to that city: 297,934 pounds of herring, worth $2,979; 46,276 

 pounds of pike perch, worth $1,851, and 29,243 pounds of perch, valued 

 at $877. The vessels carried 14 men, had a combined tonnage of 19.86, 

 and were worth, with their outfit, $12,800. They used 388 gill nets, 

 having a total length of 245,350 feet, valued at $4,306. 



Table showing by States and comities the number of persons employed in the fisheries of 



Lake Erie in 1890. 



