American Fisheries Society. 97 



shad you can tlo it only in a limited \va\-. Xoithor vmi nor tlie 

 United States Fish Commission have ever held 100,000,000 fry, 

 and with the whitefish we must have the rit^'lit kind of enclosures, 

 and it means millions of money in order to do it rij^ht. 

 ( A])i)lause.) 



Mr. Davis: Isn't it a fact, Mr. Clark, that the disaj^pearance 

 of the whitefish is larg^ely due to the increase of the fishermen's 

 methods of taking- them? We have one man who is fishing to- 

 day with y^, miles of nets in Lake Michii;an. and when there are 

 nets in that lake that will extend around the entire area of the 

 lake once and a half, is it any wonder that the fish are disappear- 

 ing? 



Mr. Clark : If you will read the ])a])ers and reports on this 

 point, yon will find that the theory we take is that the mature fish 

 are there for the purpose of being caught out if you but replace 

 with fry, and the food is there for the fry. if it hasn't been de- 

 stroyed by sewerage and refuse. Xow. when you replace with frv. 

 you may take out all the adult fish : I don't care whether a fisher- 

 man has one net or 75 miles of nets. If this is not a fact, how is 

 it that the whitefish are increasing throughout Lake Erie, where 

 there is far more net fishing than in Lake Michigan. We 

 caught last year, on the Detroit river, which all the Michigan 

 men know, more than double the amount of whitefish taken there 

 five years ago. and I do not think we had as many nets. 



Mr. Ravenel: I would like to say to the gentleman from 

 Connecticut relative to the distribution of the yearling whitefish, 

 that the government would have to acc[uire propert}- and build 

 ponds, and it would be necessary to get the congressmen inter- 

 ested in it. and then after we have gotten the appropriation we 

 must enclose an immense area to supply food for the young fish. 

 The same question is involved in shad culture. We annuallx' dis- 

 tribute millions of shad fry. and the supply of shad on the Po- 

 tomac, where they have been raised to a consi(leral)le extent, has 

 not been anv better sustained than on the Delaware river, where 

 onlv frv are ]:)lanted. That is no argument, however ; for the 

 expense has been the only thing that has deterred us from under- 



