FISHERIES, BY STATES. 



175 



Products, by species. The fishery products of the 

 state in 1908 are distributed by species and by appa- 

 ratus of capture in Table 1, on page 177. The total 

 of 7,475,000 pounds, valued at $192,000, represents a 

 large increase over the products in 1899, the latest year 

 prior to 1908 for which complete data for the state as a 

 whole are available. In 1899 the total yield, as re- 

 ported by the Bureau of Fisheries, was only 1,931,000 

 pounds, with a value of $55,000. The year 1899, how- 

 ever, is an unfavorable year for comparison because 

 of the fact that restrictive legislation recently passed 

 had caused a temporary decline in the fishery activi- 

 ties of the state. A more correct conception of the 

 rate of decrease may be obtained from a comparison 

 of the figures for 1908 with those given in the report 

 of the Bureau of Fisheries for 1894, which showed the 

 fishery products of the Mississippi River district of the 

 state alone in that year to be 6,401,000 pounds. 



The catch of fish proper in 1908 amounted in the 

 aggregate to 6,616,000 pounds, or 89 per cent of the 

 total weight of all fishery products, and was valued at 

 $173,000, or 90 per cent of the total value of such 

 products. 



Products, by fishing grounds. The products of the 

 Mississippi River and its tributaries and those of the 

 Lake Superior district for 1908 are given in detail, by 

 species and by apparatus of capture, in Tables 2 and 3, 

 on pages 177 and 178, respectively. 



The catch of the Mississippi River district amounted 

 to 3,674,000 pounds and had a value of $109,000, 

 while the catch of the fisheries of Lake Superior 

 amounted to 3,802,000 pounds, valued at $83,000. In 

 the fisheries of the Mississippi River and its tributa- 

 ries the value of fish proper constituted 82 per cent of 

 the value of the total product, while in the Lake Supe- 

 rior district the entire product was fish proper. Of the 

 value of fish, 48 per cent was reported for the Lake 

 Superior fisheries and 52 per cent for the Mississippi 

 River fisheries. The most important product of the 

 Mississippi River district was German carp, for which 

 a value of $26,000, or 24 per cent of the total for 

 the district, was reported, although the value of the 

 buffalo-fish product was nearly as great. 



In the Lake Superior district herring was the prin- 

 cipal product, with a value of $38,000, or 46 per cent 

 of the total value of the products of this district. 



The next tabular statement gives the distribution 

 of the value of fishery products, according to species 

 and districts. 



The quantity and value of the products taken by the 

 fisheries of the Lake Superior waters show a gradual 

 increase, according to the reports of the Bureau of 

 Fisheries. The Lake Superior products amounted to 

 183,000 pounds, valued at $6,200, in 1890; 609,000 

 pounds, valued at $14,000, in 1899; and 2,176,000 

 pounds, valued at $45,000, in 1903. 



In the following tabular statement the distribution 

 of the value of products of the Lake Superior district 

 in 1908 is shown, by species and by waters: 



It appears that lake herring and lake trout were 

 the only fish caught in any considerable quantity in 

 Lake Superior itself. All of the pike perch, sturgeon, 

 pike, and pickerel, and nearly all of the whitefish re- 

 ported for the Lake Superior district were obtained 

 from the Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake. 



Products, by apparatus of capture. The distribution 

 of products, by kind of apparatus used and by fishery 

 districts, is given in the following tabular statement: 



On the basis of the value of products taken, seines, 

 gill nets, and pound nets were the most important 

 forms of apparatus of capture, the value of their catch 

 together constituting three-fourths of the total value 

 of all products. For the Lake Superior waters the 



