Wilson.— The White fish 99 



lishecl a standard, a harmonizing of pound and inch meth- 

 ods, quite as necessary as the standardizing of sizes of output 

 of hatchery and certainly of more far reaching importance. 

 In the consideration of the question of determining just how 

 long in inches a whitefish must measure to harmonize with 

 the present standard of practically two pounds to the round, 

 it may be stated that one fish culturist of forty years' ex- 

 perience writes as follows : "A twelve inch whitefish will 

 not on the average weigh one and a half pounds, and in some 

 waters not over one and a quarter pounds." The Hon. John 

 C. Speaks, chief warden, Ohio Fish and Game Commission, 

 writes in this connection that, in his opinion, it would be 

 an excellent idea to have a conference in Washington or at 

 some other convenient point, and endeavor to decide upon 

 some policy or plan which will insure co-operation, while 

 another commissioner has offered to make weights and 

 measurements of whitefish during the coming season's oper- 

 ation and report results. The department at Washington 

 will also be requested to ask fish culturists operating white- 

 fish hatcheries to take weights and measurements of white- 

 fish taken during the coming season, having in mind the solu- 

 tion of these questions. The present fish culturist of New 

 York, in his book on "Food and Game Fishes of the State," 

 1903, page 313, speaking of the whitefish, makes the follow- 

 ing statement: "In Lake Erie, in 1885, the average weight 

 was between two and three pounds. The length of adults 

 will average twenty inches." After much thought and ob- 

 servation, it is the personal opinion of the writer that, for 

 purposes of legislation, the inch measurement of a two 

 pound whitefish should be sixteen inches or more. In what 

 has been said about advocating size limits in detail, it is to 

 be understood that the larger part of the credit of estab- 

 lishing such size limits rests upon this Society and the many 

 fish culturists and heads of departments who for years 

 have advocated this measure of protection. 



With personal acknowledgments to the many state com- 

 missioners, to provincial departments of fisheries, to the 



