FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 43 



as they are set on the reefs in spawning time, right where the 

 fish go to breed, and the schools are broken up or driven off en- 

 tirely, and the eggs are then deposited in the mud and never 

 hatch. Good results may now be seen from fish-planting, but 

 the business has not been carried on long enough, nor on a suf- 

 ficient scale, to tell what it will do in the long run," 



Simon Fox, of North Bass, gives his opinion thus: "Have 

 been in the fishing business for years, and until the past season 

 never believed there would be any results from the planting of 

 young fish. Now I am fully convinced that good results are to 

 be seen, and if it is continued, great results will follow." 



Jasper Snide, of North Bass, says : " Our twine caught a few 

 more whitefish in 1884 than in 1883, and I think we should have 

 done still better but for the unfavorable fishing weather, it being 

 so still that the fish remained on the reefs beyond our nets con- 

 tinuously until we got those heavy blows, which drove them off 

 entirely. Formerly I did not have any faith in the planting of 

 young whitefish, but am now sure we can see good results. 

 We now catch a great many of a smaller class of fish, which we 

 never did before the planting was commenced, and if the stock 

 had not been kept up in some other than the natural way, they 

 must have decreased in numbers, and we cannot see that they 

 have in a few years." 



George Axtell, of North Bass, states: "Whitefish are in- 

 creasing in numbers all the time, at least this is true of my own 

 nets, and I feel certain that it is owing to the planting of young 

 fish from the hatcheries. Last fall I caught numbers of small 

 whitefish, such as I never before caught in gill-nets." 



William Axtell, practical fiisherman, of North Bass, says: " I 

 know that the planting of young whitefish is a great help to the 

 fishing industry. Would like to see more fisheries put up — 

 enough to take care of all the eggs that could be taken." 



Eugene McFall, clerk of the steamer Jay Cooke, freight and 

 passenger boat plying between the islands and Sandusky, says : 

 " I think there is an increase in the catch of whitefish, and I sup- 

 pose the planting must account for it. We carried from the 

 islands in 1S83 about 132,000 pounds of whitefish, and in 18S4, 

 170,000, an increase of nineteen tons for 1884." 



