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Perhaps I am asked, Have any of the fishermen ever at- 
tempted to spawn fish, and if so, what were the results ? 
Yes, more than half a dozen of them; for results I will 
give a report to a gentleman connected with the Fish Com- 
mission: 
‘*One of our men who lives up the lake quite a long 
ways, always spawns all the fish he finds that are in a 
fitting condition to be stripped, and has done so for five 
years; the result is he sends fish uniform in size, and more in 
quantity, and perhaps has not to go so far to catch fish 
as any other men who send _fish to us. The lake within 
a few miles of his home is a splendid fishing ground. 
While other grounds have been fished out, this man is pros- 
perous, intelligent, and is making money right along. 
Now, if he can do this with lake trout, why cannot other 
fishermen be taught to strip and spawn whitefish ? ”’ 
This is not an isolated case; at Fishermen’s Home on 
Isle Royale there is another fisherman who has been 
stripping fish as they came in ripe, and depositing the im- 
pregnated spawn. The captain of one of the fishing tugs 
has attempted the stripping of ripe fish and carried a tin 
bucket for this purpose; these three of the half dozen 
have perhaps been the only ones who have kept up the 
practice, but the mass of the fishermen have at different 
times urged the necessity of planting the spawn on the 
grounds where nature has provided food for the young fry 
when hatched. . 
Does some one ask, Is there a necessity for incurring 
this expense? Does not the increasing demand for this 
foremost of all fishes for table use justify the demand for 
some extra expense? Does not the decreasing numbers of 
these fish call for some extra efforts to replenish the 
waters formerly prolific with them ? 
Does not the fact that tugs come into port the first week 
in June, and report the fishing “‘ played out”? demand that 
