104 Til iri //-First Ainiiiiil Merlin;] 



tliey cannot get them. In Lake ^lichigan however, there has 

 been just as mnch fishing as in Lake Erie, while the former has 

 not been an\-\vliere near so heavily planted, therefore to furnish 

 its qnota many of the tish have been nnder weight. The fisher- 

 men l)eing after every one they can get, regardless of its size, and 

 conseqnently the fish are being greatly reduced in numbers in 

 Lake Michigan. I think if we could plant fry in Lake Michigan 

 as we are doing in Lake Erie and Detroit river, you would see in 

 the course of five to fifteen years, a great increase in the Lake 

 Michigan output. Lake Erie and the Detroit river have had at 

 least one-lialf of all the fry that have l)een hatched on the great 

 lakes. 



Mr. Palmer: In other words. Lake ^Michigan and that 

 vicinity have not had any fry there. 



]\Ir. Clark : Oh. no, I do not say that. They have had quite 

 a good plant every year. This year we put in Lake ^lichigan 

 about 30,000,000, and I think very liKcly Wisconsin must have 

 put in 20,000,000 or more. 



The President: We did. 



Mr. Clark: But .5(),()()0,()()0 fry is not enough for Lake 

 Michigan. We shonld liave 5()().0:)0,000. 



The President: I would like to ask, is the whitefish a migra- 

 tory fish, or does he stay in the vicinity of his birth place, or 

 where he is ])lanted. Do they rove around and colonize other 

 parts of the lake, or are they local? 



Mr. Clark : I cannot answer that question. I have been con- 

 nected witli whitefish Avork for thirty years, and that is a ques- 

 tion that 1 cannot answer you. Perhajjs our scientific men can,, 

 but I cannot; however I can say that the whitefish are in the 

 Detroit river in the fall and I know that they are not there in 

 the spring, but whether they go a long distance or not T am un- 

 al)le to tell. We do not get, or we did not used to get, the same 

 colored lisli in Lake Huron that we do in Lake Erie and the 

 Detroit river. I hardly think they ever go u]) through the St. 

 Clair river into Lake Huron, Imt still I cannot answer those 

 questions. 



Mr. Palmer: A large quantity of whitefish were caught this 

 season in the vicinity of Charlevoix, while at South Huron, for- 

 merly one of the l)est fishing grounds, there have not been any. 



