28 FISH—CULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 
ne 
CHANGES IN THE FISHERIES OF THE GREAT 
LAKES DURING THE DECADE, 1870-1880. 
BY CHARLES W. SMILEY. 
A somewhat wide-spread impression exists in the lake regions 
that the fisheries of the Great Lakes are decreasing. That the 
number of pounds of fish annually caught is less than formerly 
is not true, and yet this.instinctive impression is doubtless cor- 
rect if formulated differently. That the resources are diminish- 
ing and liable to fail us is true. 
From the statements of Mr. J. W. Milner, who visited the fish- 
eries in 1871, and whose report was published by the United 
States Fish Commission, and by comparison with the investiga- 
tion made in 1879 by Mr. Ludwig Kumlein, under the auspices 
of the Fish Commission and tenth census, the following facts 
appear : 
I. The total number of pounds of fish obtained from the Great 
Lakes in 1879 was equal to or greater than the yield of any years 
in the first part of the decade. 
ie Lhe apparatus for capture has increased in effectiveness 
enormously, probably 500 per cent. The increased effectiveness 
was produced by the introduction of finer meshes in nets, the 
addition of steam tugs, the increase of pounds, and very great 
increase in the number of gill nets in use. The number of fish- 
ermen also increased. 
lil. The average size of the whitefish and trout taken greatly 
diminished during the decade. 
IV. A considerable number of valuable fishing places became 
seriously or wholly exhausted. New places were sought out, 
and the supply thus kept up. | 
V. From these few facts the following conclusion is drawn : 
The perfection which the apparatus has attained, the diminution 
in the size of the fish taken, the exhaustion of numerous local- 
ities, and the fact that fishing is pressed under these cireum- 
stances enough to keep up the maximum supply, indicates that 
