1912 AND FISHERIES COMMISSION. 25 



taken place in American waters, where the division of control is so 

 great as to have rendered such systematic statistical research work 

 almost impossible up to the present, but on the Canadian side of the 

 boundary, over which there is, broadly speaking, but one control, the 

 only obstacle in its way Avould appear to be the absence of a sufficiency 

 of hatcheries to produce positive results, for, although, as has been 

 pointed out above, owing to the peculiar disposition of the whiteflsh 

 area in Lake Erie, the enormous American plant would have to be taken 

 into consideration in that lake, in most other cases the great bodies of 

 water intervening between the bulk of the Canadian and American fish- 

 ery areas would render such investigations both possible and conclusive. 



It is interesting to note, however, that attempts have already been 

 made to determine the ratio from the statistics available, and although 

 the accuracy of the results obtained may not be altogether above sus- 

 picion, none the less they would appear to be most useful as indicating 

 the approximate figures that may be expected. Mr. Paul Eeighard, of 

 the University of Michigan, in a most interesting paper delivered before 

 the Fourth International Fishery Congress, worked it out as follows: 



A plant of 30,000 per square mile of whitefish area, or of 100 i)er 

 pound of whitefish caught, is correlated, under existing conditions, with 

 an increase of 72 per cent, in the catch; 



A plant of 10,000, or 32 to the pound of whitefish caught, with a 

 practically stationary whitefish product; a plant of 2,200, or 11 to the 

 pound of whiteflsh caught, with a decrease of 26 per cent, in the white- 

 fish product; pointing ont, however, that as the whitefish increased 

 under intensive planting it was quite possible that a less plant than 100 

 to the pound of fish caught would suffice to maintain the fisheries. 



Assuming the cost of producing fry to be 2 cents per 1,000, which 

 in all probability is placing it considerably too high, if Mr. Reighard's 

 figures be taken as approximately correct, this would bring the cost of 

 producing 1,000 pounds of whitefish to |2. In view of the fact that the 

 price paid to the fishermen at present is never less than 5 cents per 

 pound of whitefish, it would appear that extensive hatchery operations 

 could not but prove economically a most profitable enterprise, for of 

 recent years the supply has never equalled the demand and the Cana- 

 dian markets are still capable of very considerable expansion. 



From the above it would seem to be established that practical and 

 economically profitable results can be obtained by conducting fish hatch- 

 ery operations on a large scale; that in view of the cooitinued decrease 

 in the Provincial fisheries, steps should at once be taken to establish 

 considerable Provincial fish hatchery plants; and that, hand-in-hand 

 with the establishment of such plants, scientific investigations should be 

 made to determine the extent to which the annual production of the 

 hatcheries must be carried to produce positive results throughout the 

 Provincial fisheries. 

 3 F.C. 



