66 Thirty-fifth Annual Meeting 
many respects do not today begin to compare with what they 
were thirty or forty years ago. 
Mr. Meehan: I must disagree with Mr. Fullerton to some 
extent with regard to the Great Lakes, at least so for as Lake 
Erie is concerned. I think that statistics that we have will show 
that in some particulars there have been actual increases in the 
fishes. ‘Take the whitefish, for instance: a number of years ago 
we had a large number of whitefish and then artificial propaga- 
tion was begun, but just before it was begun the whitefish almost 
disappeared. They had been caught with all kinds of nets, there 
was no close season; with the result that it did not pay to put out 
nets regularly for them. We have given a certain amount of 
protection, we have a close season, we have certain meshes re- 
quired, and we have been propagating heavily. This year we 
have begun to take whitefish again in Lake Erie in quantities. 
Last Friday for instance, one boat brought in 1,500 pounds, 
which is a pretty good record for a starter on this work. So 
the other boats yesterday and the day before came in with good 
catches of whitefish. 
The bluepike have been largely on the increase in the catch 
and character of the fish for the last six or eight years for us in 
Lake Erie. 
I agree that three-quarters of the fish probably that are 
planted in our inland waters are not properly planted. Mr. Full- 
erton says he did not mean the Great Lakes. I think there, as a 
general rule, they are planted properly, as the states generally do 
their own planting; but in the interior waters people do not fol- 
low the instructions given them. ; 
I agree with what Mr. Titcomb says in regard to the dis- 
appearance of the shad. They are falling off rapidly. Our own 
experience has been that where we used to have 25,000,000 and 
30,000,000 eggs a year, this year we only got a little over 
3,000,000 in the Delaware river. I think not only are they 
caught in the bay improperly, but, as possibly Mr. Titcomb 
does not know, that one or two of the states bordering on 
the Delaware river, passed laws which cut down the mesh to 
next to nothing and made the open season for catching the shad 
throughout the entire year, except two months. The shad can- 
