THE SEA FISHERIES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 193 



by a chain, so that it will touch the bottom artel not permit fish to go under it. [Dia- 

 gram of trap exhibited.] The trap is only used in the waters of Rhode Island, and is 

 used for scup, tautog, and sea-bass. There are no stakes used to the trap. It is a 

 rectangular space of netting held at the corners by anchors. The fish go along the 

 leaders and pass into the receptacle. The trap requires constant watching, or the fish 

 could go in and out. The moment a school of fish enter, the netting at the end is 

 raised. They pursue the same mode of emptying, and turn the lish into the pocket, 

 as with pounds. 



Q. The difference is that in the case of pounds, it is not necessary that boats should 

 be employed to visit them frequently ? — A. In stormy weather you sometimes cannot 

 get to a pound for a week. In the case of traps they are visited three or four or half 

 a dozen times a day. When the boats off shore see a school of fish enter the trap, they 

 follow and take it whether large or small. [Diagram of weir exhibited.] This weir 

 consists of a small circle of brush or boards, with two wings and a spring. The fish 

 come into the weir at high tide, and as the water falls they are left in a cavity inside 

 the weir, and are taken out in dip-nets. There are a dozen or twenty different forms 

 of constructing weirs. 



Q. What is the estimated cost of a pound ? — A. $1,000 will pay for the construction 

 of a very good pound, including the entire equipment. A pound is managed by from 

 two to four men, while a trap requires two boats and about seven men. 



Q. The trap is more expensive? — A. About the same cost as the pound, because, al- 

 though it has no stakes, yet it requires to be of very considerable size and needs 

 anchors. I should presume that the first cost of the two would not be very different. 



Q. And what is the cost of a weir? — A. It is a simple thing. The cost merely rep- 

 resents the lumber and labor. 



Q. That is a permanent erection ? — A. Yes ; the others are all taken up ; the traps 

 are only kept down six weeks in the year; the pounds are down for from two months 

 to five, and at the end of the season they use an apparatus to pull the stakes out of 

 the water, and then pack them on shore for next season. 



Q. What are the kinds of fish taken in the great lakes ? — A. There is a great variety 

 of fish taken there, but the most important fish, as a matter of business, are the white- 

 fish, lake herring, lake trout, wall-eyed pike, muskalonge, sturgeon, and a variety of 

 others. The most important, however, are whitefish, herring, and trout. 



Q. What are the methods of taking them ? — A. They are taken very largely by 

 pounds, which are constructed on a very large scale, and much more elaborate and ex- 

 pensive than on the coast. They are taken by gill-nets very largely, and by seines 

 under certain circumstances. At a certain time of the year, whitefish can be taken 

 in great quantities in seines, and kept in pounds until ready for market. 



Q. Are those built and constructed to a great extent along both the Canadian and 

 American shores?— A. I presume they are used in Canada, though I cannot say. I 

 know they are on our own coasts. There is quite a number of these pounds worked 

 by Canadians on the American coast. 



Q. Have you any statistics respecting the lake fishery for the years 1876 and 1877 ? — 

 A. I have only partial statistics for 1877. I published the statistics in detail in my 

 report for 1872, and I am now having statistics for 1877 collected, and will have them 

 I suppose by the end of the season. 



Q. 1872 represents but faintly the present state of things. Can you tell us how it 

 was in 1872? — A. In 1872 the American production of fish in the great lakes was 

 32,250,000 pounds. That quantity of fish was taken, but how much more I cannot 

 say. Those were marketed at Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago, and many other stations. 



Q. Does that include the Canadian catch? — A. I presume there is no Canadian catch 

 in that amount. Those are the figures as they were obtained by my agents, from the 

 fishermen and dealers. 



Q. You obtained them from the dealers in the large cities ?— A. Yes ; and the fish- 



S. Mis. 90 13 



