THE COMMERCIAL FISHERY 



A total of 47,397,257 pounds of fish was taken by the Ontario com- 

 mercial fishermen during the year from January 1st to December 31st, I960* 

 This is below the amount taken the year previously by 3.3$^ or 1,595,086 

 pounds. Continuing the trend of the last four years, however, the 196O 

 catch was again greater than the average for the last ten years by about 

 one and a quarter million pounds or 2.7^. * 



During the year some Ontario fishermen, under the authority of 

 licences issued by the State of Michigan, fished in the United States 

 waters of Lake Huron. The total of this catch which was landed at 

 Ontario ports amounted to over 200,000 pounds, consisting of 198,820 

 pounds of chubs and 9,860 pounds of white fish. The actual landings In 

 Ontario therefore, exceeded the catch in Provincial waters by this amoimt. 



Although the total catch of fish in 1960 was somewhat less than that 

 in 1959, the landed value increased by lA^ or $66,415. to $4,932,853. 

 The total value was $1,791*147. or 26. 7?^ below the average for the past 

 ten years largely due to the continued change in the composition of the 

 catch. ^ 



Landings of smelt and perch comprised one -half of the Provincial 

 total for i960, largely replacing, in total weight, the more valuable 

 blue and yellow pickerel, whitefish, lake herring and lake trout of 

 earlier years. A more efficient method of harvesting smelts by the newly 

 developed smelt trawling resulted in increased catches of this species In 

 Lake Erie which were produced economically throughout the year even 

 though the average value for this fish remained at less than 4ji per 

 pound for the eleven and two-thirds million pounds landed, , 



The number of fishermen in Ontario was relatively unchanged with 

 a decrease to 3,409 in i960 as compared with 3,527 in 1959. The main 

 causes for the decrease were a continuing movement of men out of the 

 industry in Georgian Bay and Lake Superior resulting from the scarcity 

 of marketable fish in these waters, and more efficient fishing methods 

 developed on Lake Erie. A return of men to fishing is noted in the Lake 



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