254 Roosnrlt Wild Life .liiiuils 



THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL VALUE OF ONEIDA LAKE FISHES 



By Charles C. Adams 



The General Situation. Although Oneida Lake is within ahout eleven miles 

 of Syracuse, the fourth city in size in the State, with a population of about 180,000, 

 its relatively unattractive, low, swampy shores, and its poor transportation facili- 

 ties, despite several very fine sandy bathing beaches, have attracted comparatively 

 little attention from the public until the last few years. The electric trolleys were 

 a distinct agency for a time, but more recently the automobile and improved high- 

 ways are the main factors which have stimulated public interest in this lake. Fish- 

 ing, bathing and the delights of summer cottages situated on suitable parts of the 

 shore seem to have been the chief attractive features. 



Relatively very little has been published on the fish and fisheries of this lake. 

 The State has maintained a hatchery at Constantia, on the north shore, for many 

 years and the annual reports of this hatchery contained, during Dr. T. Bean's 

 administration, numerous valuable notes on the fishes of the lake. The old set- 

 tlers tell a number of intcrotinL; stnries about the wholesale catch of breeding fish 

 of this lake on their spawning; linls, in the early days. This was true particularly 

 of Pike Perch, in the lower part nf the inflowing Chittenango Creek, where the fish 

 are reported to have been taken by the wagon load, salted and packed or used 

 merely as fertilizer. 



There has been a prolonged struggle between the conflicting fishing interests 

 of the commercial fishermen and the sportsmen. The sportsmen are in the majority 

 and are organized ; the market fishermen, although in the minority, are apparently 

 strengthened by commercial interests which have a demand for cheap fish. 



For many years the State hatchery at Constantia hatched Oneida Lake Tullibee 

 or Whitefish. This is ;i valualilc food fish which thrives in these waters, does 

 not compete seriously with ><{hrv species, and its culture should be encouraged; 

 but until some practical and K-gnl method of netting this species, as well as other 

 "cull fish" such as carp, ling, sucker, etc., has been devised (cf. Adams, '26, p. 

 529), the present rather anomalous situation with regard to this fish will continue. 

 The situation at Oneida Lake has been summarized elsewhere (Adams, '26, p. 522) 

 as follows : "At present, in too many parts of the United States the inland fishing 

 industry is in almost a state of war with the State officials. The sporting interests 

 are often well organized and secure legislation favorable to their interests and 

 they are not always fair to the food aspect of the problem. There are strong, well 

 financed commercial interests which are well organized, which do not fully recog- 

 nize the sporting interests or appreciate conservation methods, but there are very 

 few corresponding organizations of consumers interested in good and cheap food 

 fish. In some regions the sporting interests are by far the most valuable, in others 

 the food interests predominate. In order to secure the best possible sport fishing, 

 there has been a tendency to make so many restrictive measures that the food 

 industry does not have a reasonalile chance; in fact, there has l:)een an unwilling- 

 ness manifested even to permit the use of so-called cull or rough fish. Prejudices 

 are usually rampant in discussions of these questions, and a fair understanding is 

 very difficult and often seemingly impossible to secure. When fish abound in 

 waters and the ])rices are attractive naturally illegal fishing liy 'im''''>^''^' 's stningly 



