76 Thirty-fifth Annual Meeting 
Mr. Bower: The figures in detail of the herring catch and 
value are as follows: 
HERRING. 
Year Total Catch, Pounds Total Value 
No Paar a i acer Bernt as DL oh ands a 7,823,000 $117,319.00 
Dts} PAE SMR AaGSA cio RRR RE Ra oro ne Oa 5,564,000 71,979.00 
TSO SS tN ere Rel Does ae war pene ea 10,178,000 159,313.00 
NSO)! SMES Paneer ae ren. cased See ait OE Rite 8,825,000 112,046.00 
ESO ARNE OA sraia wr nesuaescaitiors teh CE 10,512,000 101,618.00 
SO Oise rhachis cadena ey OEE een 12,115,000 92,012.00 
Toh) (piece Sates (oR Ra ORE ey OR VA, Se RLS 12,958,000 98,510.00 
TIO SL aaa ae PRPC A tien al tea Cee A are ange 14,937,000 143,439.00 
ERO ON eves i Core ce eotsas ee ee ten eat 17,567,000 193,000.00 
OOO. Berne reece a gts cee enn eee 13,068,000 172,250.00 
IU Oath ee hors capean a meer PERE et renal asta eat 14,865,000 287,850.00 
NO OD ees cain A teoe oat dees eens ee ee eee 19,112,000 285,875.00 
RLS 0 Biss eae tok ried See ea eco Ui DORON Poco 15,767,000 305,036.00 
TD (eee ac a ce teccvcheees ered acest mee eee cote 19,927,000 332,831.00 
Nineteen hundred and two was the low year; then the catch 
fluctuated, but you will notice that in some years when the catch 
was low the price was even still lower proportionately. Very 
likely, however, the fish were just as abundant as they were in 
_later years. ‘The small catch does not necessarily indicate scar- 
city but rather that the price was so low that it was unprofitable 
to fish for them in some localities. ‘Then you will see that the 
catch increases rapidly down to 1904, when it was the largest in 
the history of commercial fishing in Michigan, not only in 
pounds but in value,—nearly three times as large as it was 
in 1891. 
Mr. O’Brien: Are not the meshes of nets now used smaller 
than they were in nets used in 1891? 
Mr. Bower: 'They are for Green Bay, but elsewhere the sizes 
are the same as they have been as far back as 1889, except from 
1897 to 1899. In 1897 our general law on meshes was so amend- 
ed as to increase the size of large meshed pound nets one-half 
inch and large meshed gill-nets one-fourth inch, but this amend- 
ment was repealed two years later, in 1899, leaving the sizes the 
same as since 1899, except for Green Bay. 
