72 Thirty-fifth Annual Meeting 
to the present day. I do not mean-to find fault at all. We have 
been so busy getting out fish that we have not stopped to think 
about the enemies and the diseases which retard our work; but 
we have got to do it now; we cannot afford to lose thousands of 
dollars worth of stock in a season; and we must all get to work 
and talk to one another and talk to the people about these things 
and tell them what to do, if we know anything that can be done, 
and we do in some cases. I do not wish to take up your time, 
but I merely wanted to state that it appears to me that Mr. Ful- 
lerton’s paper starts a subject on which we ought to talk for 
hours and days, and continue to talk for years to come. 
Mr. Clark: In connection with Mr. Fullerton’s paper, and 
to substantiate the statements I have made in regard to the fish 
and fisheries of the Great Lakes not retrograding, and with due 
respect and regard to the programme committee, I would like, 
if it is agreeable to the president and members, to call for a talk 
and some charts that Mr. Seymour Bower is intending to pre- 
sent. The subject is, I understand, right along the same hne 
with the matter now under discussion. 
Mr. Seymour Bower: (Speaking.) A few days ago I had 
occasion to refer to the statistical records on file at the office of 
the Michigan Fish Commission, and while delving through these 
records for certain information, a number of points were de- 
veloped that it seemed to me would be of interest to the members 
of this society and worth publishing in the annual report. This 
is my excuse for appearing before you in connection with a sub- 
ject that is acknowledged to be pretty dry, the subject of sta- 
tistics. 
For the past fifteen years, or since the beginning of 1891, the 
Michigan Fish Commission has employed an agent who devotes 
nearly his entire time to the collection of statistics covering the 
commercial fishing industry of Michigan waters of the Great 
Lakes. This agent visits each fishing station at least once every 
calendar year and collects the figures for the preceding calendar 
year. The figures are obtained by personal interview and by in- 
spection of the records and books of every fisherman, the latter 
being thrown open to him freely for this purpose. By reason of 
this free access to all of the records, and taking into consideration 
