Table 15 



GREAT LAKES CATCH, 1879-1967* 



(thousands of pounds) 



Year 



Total 



1879 . 

 1890 . 

 1903 . 

 1920 . 

 1930 . 

 1940 . 

 1950 . 



1960 . 



1961 . 



1962 . 



1963 . 



1964 . 



1965 . 



1966 . 

 1967^ 



76,238 



140,196 



113,024 



104,848 



115,765 



98,358 



95,408 



103,854 



112,508 



1 1 5,384 



98,617 



87,604 



97,735 



115,539 



119,800 



Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Fishery Statistics of the United States, 1963 and 



1965; current figures from Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. 



The above data do not include the international lakes. 

 2 

 Preliminary. 



Far more disturbing are the changes that have 

 occured in the composition of the landings. The 

 traditional high-valued lake trout, whitefish, blue 

 pike, and walleye have declined drastically relative 

 to the total. The only species for which increases 

 were recorded were the low-valued species, such as 

 chubs, carp, yeUow perch, and alewives. 



b. Causal Factors No one factor can be singled out 

 as the cause of the decline of the Great Lakes 

 fisheries. It is actually attributable to a complex of 

 problems, some of them inherent in the physical 

 setting, some due to commercial pressures, and 

 some due to inadequate pubUc poUcy. In this 

 section, a brief summary of the key developments 

 is present. Detailed analyses may be found in 

 Brouillard (1963); Beuttner (1963); Smith (1968). 

 One of the major sources of difficulty with the 

 exploitation of living resources of the Great Lakes 

 is the complex ecology of the region. The Great 

 Lakes are relatively new bodies of water, and fish 

 populations have not had sufficient time to de- 

 velop into stable, organized systems making full 

 use of the biological capacity of the lakes, as 



Table 16 



QUANTITY, VALUE, AND AVERAGE PRICE, 



U.S. GREAT LAKES FISHERIES, 1940-1966 



Source: 1940 to 1959, Keith Brouillard, Economic Re- 

 view of the Great Lal<es Commercial /fisheries, 1940-59, 

 U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Serv- 

 ice Circular L4L, Washington 1963; 1960 to 1966, Fish- 

 ery Statistics of the United States, 1966. 



Preliminary. 



VII-28 



