No. 3 



Report of the Department of Lands and Forests for 1950 



SPECIES 



Brown Trout 



Lake Trout.. 



Rainbow Trout 



Kamloops Trout _ 



Speckled Trout.. 



Whitefish... 



Herring 



Atlantic Salmon 



EGGS AND FRY FINGERLINGS YEARLINGS 



9,000 

 1,000,000 



1,000 



243,482,000 



20,375,000 



557,505 



4,858,300 



27,900 



882,450 



101,400 



536.984,500 



7,007,355 



350,113 



77,055 



8,350 



4,600 



2,333,910 



2,774,028 



100 

 5,270 



9,813 



916,618 



5,935,355 



36,250 



4,700 



3,222,630 



243,482,000 



20,375,000 



101,400 



546,775,696 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES 



During the calendar year ending December 31, 1948, the commercial catch 

 of fish totalled 28,941,791 lbs. and the total value was $5,735,072.72. Comparison 

 with the catch of 1947 shows an increase of 16.1% or 4,019,371 lbs. and an increased 

 return to the fishermen to the amount of $931,818.75. On the other hand, value of 

 equipment used increased from $5,147,029 in 1947 to $5,716,075 in 1948, an increase 

 of $569,046. Additional stocks of gear on hand and increased costs of twine, etc. 

 would appear to be the cause of this. 



It is notable that there was an increase in catch of all species of fish except 

 herring, mixed and coarse, perch and pike. With reference to herring, attention 

 should be drawn to the fact that it was expected that the Lake Erie catch would 

 continue to decline since the enormous catches of previous years had been largely 

 of one year-class of these fish and this year-class is now passing out of the fishery. 

 Thus, while the total catch of herring was 1,790,747 lbs. less than in 1947, the drop 

 in the Lake Erie catch was 1,881,082 lbs. for that same period. 



The most outstanding increases in catch were in blue pickerel and whitefish. 

 More than 5^ million pounds of blue pickerel were taken, with a resultant increase 

 over the previous year of 4,031,445 lbs. All but 41,983 lbs. of these fish were taken 

 in Lake Erie. The whitefish catch amounted to 6^ million lbs. and represents an 

 increase of 1,598,172 lbs. over the 1947 catch. It is to be noted that increases in the 

 whitefish catch were shown for all waters in which this species is taken with the 

 exception of Lake Ontario. Of particular significance are the increased catches of 

 whitefish in the North Channel and Lake Huron, where fishing has fallen off badly 

 in the past seven years. The catch of 537,939 lbs. of whitefish in Lake Huron is the 

 largest recorded for the Lake since 1920. While the catch from Georgian Bay shows 

 an increase over that for 1947, it still falls far below the catches of previous years. 



Another point of interest is that all the waters of Ontario, with the exception 

 of Northern Inland waters and Lake St. Clair, .show an increase in total catch over 

 1947 and in all waters except Lake Ontario an increase in catch value is shown. 



Closukf. of W.atfks During Spawning Season 



In the fall of 1948, part of Georgian Bay was closed to angling and com- 

 mercial fishing. This closure was to have been in effect from October 25, 1948, to 

 December 31, 1948, and included all waters of the Georgian Bay south of an 

 imaginary straight line drawn from Cape Commodore in the Township of Keppel, 



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