Amcriciiii Fislicrirs Socieh/. 101 



wliolly due to t.lic propa.u'ation and plaiitin.^- of fisli in tlic De- 

 troit river and Lake P]rie. I say it boldly heeause there is less 

 proteetion to the whitefish in Lake Erie and the Detroit river.. 

 So, if it is not from our work, what is it from? The catcli has 

 increased each year gradually from 12,000 until now we are 

 expecting to take 50,000 fish this fall on the Di'troil river. 



The President: That is the testimony of all ol' t.he fishermen 

 along our sliores, that the dejiletion caused l)y the fine nets, etc., 

 has been arrested. 



Mr. S. W. Downing, of Put-in-Bay: I would like lo bear ^Fr. 

 Clark out in his last assertion, that the increase is undoublcdlv 

 due to the propagation of tlie fish. We have steadily increased 

 in the number of eggs taken. Two years ago 335,000,090 eggs 

 were taken at Put-in-Bay. Next season 194,000,000,, last season 

 335,000,000 eggs were taken. That in connection with Mr. 

 Clark's station would make the total something over 700,000,- 

 000; and there is no question but Avhat it is coming from the 

 artificial hatching of the fish. We put out from this station 

 alone this spring a little over 200,000,000 fry. Our total hatch 

 was 81.8 per cent. Mr. Clark beat me about 3 per cent on his 

 hatch. 



Mr. Clark: Another fact bears out the results oF our work. 

 They seldom used to catch any small fish — that is, what we call 

 underweight fish, those under two ])ounds. A year ago last fall 

 we caught a little over 6,000, and last season over 2,001). Xow, 

 ten or fifteen years previous to that, no mention was made of the 

 small fish, there not being enough to attract atU-ntion. 



]\Ir. Lydell : It has been about fourteen years since 1 com- 

 menced taking charge of some of the river work, ami at that 

 time we had between 250 and 300 jars in the Detroit hati-hery, 

 and i-an seven fishing grounds to fill those jars with eggs; and 

 now we have 1,035 jars and three fishing grounds are sutficient 

 to fill them — and more too. Last vear I think we also filled t.he 

 Duluth house and the Soo house and all tlu' houses of the Cuited 

 States Fish Commission, easily, with three grounds. 



Dr. T. H. Bean: (Formerly of the Fnited States Fish Com- 

 mission, now of the Woi'ld's Fair at St. Fouis). it has seemed 

 to me that there was a little skepticism about the remark l)y mv 

 friend Gunckel about whitefish being caught on a hook, and I 



