(362 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OP THE PISHERIES. 



Erie, which are interested in the fisheries, are Brest, Stony Point, and Monroe. The total number 

 of men engaged is about one hundred and fifty, one hundred and thirty-six of whom are employed 

 in pound-net fishing and about fourteen in fyke-net fishing. Probably about three-fourths of the 

 pound-net fishermen have families. A large proportion of the fishermen are French Canadians. 



During 1879 there were no less than one hundred and eighty-two pound-nets established on 

 this shore. There were also about thirty fyke-nets and five seines in use. The value of these nets 

 and of the boats and other apparatus employed in the management of them and for the storage of 

 fish was about $60,000. 



On this part of the shore there is a somewhat different arrangement, in regard to the manner 

 of fishing, from that followed at any other localities. Some of the pounds are in use only in 

 spring, while others are employed exclusively in fall, and others still at both seasons. Of the 

 whole number of nets about seventy -two are in use in fall only, thirty-three in spring, and about 

 seventy-seven at both seasons. The spring nets are deeper than those in use at other seasons, and 

 in fall they are usually divided into two parts, each part being used as a separate net. The fall 

 fisheries are commonly carried on in shallower water than the spring fisheries. 



The small amount of seining done here is prosecuted only in winter, late in fall, and early in 

 spring. There are no peculiarities about the fyke-net fishery. 



The catch in the pounds consists principally of whitefish. In the seines, what are known as 

 panfish are taken, consisting of the smaller species of bass, catfish, and other varieties of minor 

 value. 



The total yield in 1879 was about 2,480,000 pounds. Nearly the whole of this amount was sold 

 fresh. The sturgeon were sent to Sandusky and Toledo, and about one-third of the other kinds was 

 also shipped to Toledo. The remainder was shipped to different villages and towns in the interior. 

 Only a very small amount of fish is salted in this locality. 



There have been but three men drowned on this shore within the past twenty years. 



In regard to the decrease of fish, Mr. Dewy, one of the leading fishermen, stated that, in his 

 opinion, the season of 1879 was as profitable a one as the fishermen at that locality had ever 

 known. 



About the only change that has taken place in the manner of fishing has been the increase in 

 the size of the boats and a general improvement in their model and make. 



TOLEDO. The city of Toledo, besides receiving large quantities of fish from other parts of the 

 lake, has extensive fisheries of its own. The fishing-grouuds begin just below the bridges in the 

 Maumee River, and extend to the bay and along the shore east and west. From Cedar Point 

 eastward to Locust Point there are a great number of pound-nets, some of them being among the 

 most productive on the entire shore. The grounds are all shoal, especially in Maumee Bay, and, 

 being in such a sheltered locality, nets can be set at any point where they will not interfere with 

 navigation to too great an extent. In the pounds set in the bay little else besides pickerel and 

 saugers are taken. No herring or whitefish are caught except when the water is extremely clear. 



The best grounds for general fishing are said to be those of Cedar Point, and for whitefish in 

 the vicinity of Stony Point. 



Investigation showed that the number of men employed in the regular pound-net fisheries in 

 this locality i:i 1879 was about one hundred and fifteen, while in the hook and fyke-net fisheries 

 and other minor branches about two hundred were employed. 



During the height of the season the proprietors of the fisheries employ a large number of men 

 in dressing and packing the fish. One firm alone, in 1879, employed as many as one hundred men 



