194 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



erinen at the grounds. This year I hare had every station on the American side of 

 the lakes visited and canvassed. 



Q. You have steady communication with and reports from the dealers ? — A. I have 

 reports only when I send specially after them, as I did in 1872 and am doing this year. 



Q. How far have you got in your inquiry this year? — A. I have only a partial re- 

 turn from Chicago. 



Q. What does that show ? — A. The total marketing of salted fish in Chicago up to 

 the middle of Octoher amounted to 100,000 half-barrels, with about 20,000 half-barrels 

 expected for the rest of the season, or equal to 60,000 barrels of those fish for Chicago 

 alone for the present year. The corresponding supply of barrels of fish in 1872 was 

 12,600 in Chicago, so that the Chicago trade has increased from 12,600 in 1872 to 60,000 

 in 1877, or almost fivefold — 4^0. The total catch of fish in the lakes in 1872 was 

 32,250,000 pounds. If the total catch has increased in the same ratio as that market 

 has done at Chicago, it will give 156,000,000 pounds of fish taken on the American 

 side of the lakes for the present year. 



Q. That, of course, cannot be a matter of certainty ? — A. No. 



Q. What other large central markets for lake fish are there besides Chicago ? — A. 

 Chicago and Buffalo are the most important. Cleveland takes a large quantity, but 

 Chicago and Buffalo control the market. Detroit takes the fish to some extent, but 

 it is not such a convenient shipping point. 



Q. Wtiat proportion does that bear to the fish of Canada ? — A. I cannotsay. I may 

 say, in regard to this point, that on the sanio ratio the total product of the salt fish 

 from the lakes in tho American market would be 48,546,000 pounds. Of course, those 

 figures are comparisons, and the estimates may be fallacious. Chicago may have a 

 larger share of the lake trade iu proportion, or may have a smaller share ; other places 

 may have crowded on it, or it may have gained on them. 



Q. You expect to have full returns? — A. I shall have them probably in the course 

 of one month. I have not heard from my agent who is visiting all the Canadian sta- 

 tions and fishing points on the American coasts. 



Q. You expect to ascertain the whole catch of the lakes for 1877 ? — A. Yes, with 

 great precision. I have here an item which may perhaps be interesting in regard to 

 the price of those fish. The ruling prices offish on the 15th October in Chicago, were 

 $7.50 per barrel for whitetish, $5.50 for salmon trout, and $3.75 for lake herring. 

 Those are the prices paid to the captors for the fish by the merchants ; that is, before 

 they are handled and any profit put upon them. 



Q. In regard to tho increase in the consumption of fish, are any as beneficial means 

 being adopted in Canada to maintain the supply ? — A. Both Canada and the States 

 bordering on the great lakes have striven very efficiently to prevent what would 

 otherwise have been a great danger to the supply of an enormous amount of fish. 

 They are hatching whitefish by artificial means to the extent of a great many mill- 

 ions annually. The two countries are not co-operating but concurring iu this busi- 

 ness, and probably this year they may introduce as many as twenty, thirty, or more 

 millions of young fish into the waters, and that must necessarily have a very im- 

 portant influence on the maintenance of the fisheries. They have not done anything 

 yet iu regard to lake herring, but whitefish, which is a much more valuable fish, is 

 being carefully guarded. 



Q. What States of the American Union are engaged in the breeding of whitefish ? — 

 A. Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. 



Q. What has been the success generally of the fish-breeding system by artificial 

 means? — A. It is now being practiced to such an extent in Canada and the United 

 States as to show it is a very efficient mode of preventing the diminution of fish, and 

 even of increasing the supply. It has passed the region of experiment, and it is a pos- 

 itive fact as shown by the large appropriations made on both sides of the border for 

 this purpose. ■ It commands the respect and consideration of men of all parties, and 

 in our own country, at least, there is no difficulty in getting all appropriations that 

 can profitably be expended to secure the result. 



