STATISTICS OF THE FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES IN 1908. 
The report of the fisheries of the Great Lakes here presented is for 
the calendar year 1903. The inquiry on which it is based was made 
by the statistical agents of the Bureau in 1904, beginning the latter 
part of May. ‘The statistics obtained have already been published in 
Statistical Bulletin No. 166. 
Earlier publications relating to the fisheries of the Great Lakes are 
the following: 
The Fisheries of the Great Lakes, by Frederick W. True, elaborated from notes 
gathered by Mr. Ludwig Kumlein. The Fishery Industries of the United States, 
1887, Section II, pp. 631-673. 
The Fisheries of the Great Lakes, by Ludwig Kumlein. The Fishery Industries of 
the United States, 1887, Section V, Vol. I, pp. 755-769. 
Report on an eee pation of the Fisheries of Lake Ontario, by Hugh M. Smith. 
Bulletin U. S. Fish Commission, 1890, pp. 177-215. 
Review of the Fisheries of the Great Lakes in 1885, compiled by Hugh M. Smith 
and Merwin-Marie Snell, eae introduction and description of fishing vessels by 
J. W. Collins. Report U. S. Fish Commission, 1887, pp. 1-333. 
The Fisheries of the Great es by Hugh M. Smith. Report U. 8. Fish Commis- 
sion, 1892, pp. 361-462. 
Fisheries of the Great Lakes, by Hugh M. Smith. Report U. 8. Fish Commission, 
1895, pp. 93-103. 
Report of the Joint Commission relative to the Preservation of the Fisheries in Waters 
contiguous to Canada and the United States, by Richard Rathbun and William 
Wakeham. House Ex. Doc. No. 8) b4th Cong., 2d sess., 1897, pp. 1-178. 
Fisheries of Lake Ontario. Report U.8. Fish Commission, 1898, pp. cLIr-cLxXxv. 
Statistics of Certain Fisheries of the New England and Middle Atlantic States and 
the Great Lakes. Report U.S. Fish Commission, 1898, pp. cuxvi-ctxxy. In 
this report the figures presented relate to the fiscal year 1897. 
Statistics of the Fisheries of the Great Lakes. Report U. 8. Fish Commission, 1901, 
pp. 575-657. 
GENERAL STATISTICS. 
The number of persons employed in the fisheries of the Great Lakes 
in 1903 was 9,333, including 1,249 on vessels fishing and transporting, 
6,384 in the ah 10re or boat fisheries, and 1,700 e ngas aed as shoresmen in 
the wholesale fishery trade and in ener occupations in connection with 
the fisheries. In the fisheries of the various lakes the number of per- 
sons emplicyed was as follows: Superior, 918; Michigan, 3,241; Huron, 
1,704; St. Clair, and the St. Clair and Detroit rivers, 355; Erie, 2,727; 
and Ontario, including the St. Lawrence and Niagara rivers, 388. 
Compared with the returns for 1899, the year for w mo the last can- 
vass was made, there was an increase of 305 persons in Lake Superior 
and 463 in Lake Huron, but a decrease of 1,001 in Lake Erie, and 
small decreases in the other lakes; resulting in a total decrease of 337. 
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