SIXTEENTH ANNUAL MEKTINd. 6 1 



were s]jent in fishing, has cruised in almost every bay, creek, 

 river or stream in this end of Lake Superior, and has carefully 

 noted the haDits of the whitefish, and knew both their spawning 

 grounds, and feeding grounds, and has seen the young fry of 

 whitefish by the million along the shores both of Minnesota and 

 Wisconsin. Captain McDougall has endeavored for years to call 

 attenti(jn to the alarming decrease of whitefish and to find some 

 remedy for the same. 



With the demand for whitefish, and the opening up of towns 

 in the great Northwest, larger areas of nets were spread, more 

 men were employed in the business, steam tugs were employed 

 to carry the fish to the trains that delivered the fish to the towns 

 on the prairies of the West and beyond the Mississippi; then 

 came the first notice of any spasmodic migration c;r variation of 

 the schools of fish on their feeding grounds. It became so notice- 

 able as the years rolled by that the most observant and intelli- 

 gent fishermen counted the years. There came an immense glut 

 of fish, markets were overstocked, the nets in the water were 

 filled, and before the men could dispose of the first catch and 

 get to their nets, the fish were dead and thus useless. That sea- 

 son much fish was destroyed, not by any carelessness, but by 

 such immense schools coming into the nets that the men could 

 not take care of them. 



The year following the season's catch was a diminution of the 

 usual catch; the next season was still smaller; the fcuirth season 

 was almost a failure; these singular periods vary, sometimes 

 coming every fourth or fifth year, and until the men ceased ex- 

 pecting catches of whitefish they almost knew about the propor- 

 tion of whitefish they might expect. These facts are confirmed 

 by Captain Martyn Wlieeler and Captain Ed. S. Smith, both en- 

 gaged in fishing for some years, as well as fishermen of other 

 nationalities who have been fishing these waters for more than 

 twenty years. 



The fishermen were at one time prodigal of the fishing wealth 

 of this inland sea; it was each for himself, and undoubtedly grew 

 careless both of the manner of netting and the disposing of offal 

 when cleaning the fish for the market. When the facts began 

 to present themselves in fierce array, " that there was a possibility 



