38 AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY. 



artificial propagation of fish and the protection of them until 

 they are marketable. 



Consideration of fish-culture as a department of the public 

 business is growing every year to greater prominence, particu- 

 larly in the States bordering upon the sea and the great lakes. 

 Of course I only profess to speak with accuracy about the con- 

 dition or needs, of the fisheries of my own State — Michigan ; 

 but, the state of affairs there is in some measure analogous to 

 the circumstances of other States, and the subject from my 

 point of view may prove of more than merely local interest. 



Are our fisheries worth saving ? 



Michigan has a coast line of more than 2,000 miles in length 

 upon the great lakes and their connecting rivers, by actual 

 measurement upon the Government charts. Its fisheries pro- 

 duce annually over 13,000 tons of food, the value of which is 

 something over $800,000 at first cost. The capital invested in 

 the prosecution of this industry is about $1,200,000; it gives 

 employment to 1,800 men, which means that over 7,000 people 

 are dependent upon the prosecution of the fisheries for their 

 living. The pound nets used in this industry placed end on end 

 will stretch 200 miles, the gill-nets placed end on end measure 

 1,588,852 fathoms — over 1,800 miles. 



From this brief statement it appears that Michigan has in- 

 dustrial fisheries that are worth caring for. A few additional 

 facts will show that they need care. Forty years ago at one of 

 the seine fisheries on Detroit river, the number of whitefish 

 constituting a fair catch was from 90,000 to 115,000 fish, averag- 

 ing in size about four pounds. That fishery has been abandoned 

 for more than fifteen years, and the last vestige of docks, houses 

 and pounds have rotted away. Another fishery having as fine a 

 plant as any on the lakes, about nine miles below Detroit, as 

 late as the fall of 1883, had over 12,000 whitefish, which was 

 thought the poorest catch ever known. In 1S84, at the same 

 fishery the total of whitefish was 3,400, and for the season of 

 1885, less than 2,000 whitefish were taken there by actual count. 

 This we know, for we bought and handled the Entire catch to 

 take the eggs for the State hatcheries. At many points on Lake 

 Michigan hundreds of thousands of whitefish under one pound 



