FISHERIES, BY STATES. 



169 



Pike perches.— Under this head are included the 

 blue pike, the sauger pike, and the wall-eyed pike, 

 which is many times more important than the two 

 first-named species in the catch of this state. The 

 blue pike was taken only in the vessel fisheries, while 

 the others were taken almost exclusively in the shore 

 and boat fisheries. All of the blue-pike product was 

 from Lake Michigan, and all of the salted sauger pike 

 came from the vessel fisheries of the same district. 

 Most of the catch of fresh sauger pike was from Lake 

 Erie. About four-fifths of the wall-eyed pike came from 

 Lake Huron, while most of the remainder was from Lake 

 St. Clair, of which this is the leading product, meas- 

 ured by value. In Lake Huron this species was taken 

 chiefly by pound and trap nets and in Lake St. Clair 

 chiefly by lines. A greater quantity of sauger pike was 

 taken with fyke and hoop nets than with pound and 

 trap nets, the only other class of apparatus for which 

 product of any importance was reported. For the cap- 

 ture of blue pike gill nets were used exclusively. The 

 yield of pike perch was less in 1908 than in any of the 

 years for which a canvass has been made, but its value 

 was exceeded only by that of the catch of 1903. 

 Figures for the various canvasses are presented in the 

 following tabular statement: 



i Includes pike. 



Yellow perch. — This species contributed about 5 per 

 cent of the value of the state products, and was taken 

 almost wholly by the shore and boat fisheries. Lake 

 Huron furnished almost three-fourths of the total 

 value of the yellow perch caught and Lake Michigan 



the greater part of the remainder. Over three-fourths 

 of the Lake Huron product was taken with pound and 

 trap nets, and fyke and hoop nets ranked next in im- 

 portance among the kinds of apparatus used. In 

 Lake Michigan gill nets took nearly as great a quan- 

 tity as pound and trap nets, and the catch was of 

 greater value; all but a small part of the catch was 

 taken by these two forms of apparatus. The yellow- 

 perch catch has increased in value steadily, but the 

 quantity taken in 1908, though greater than that 

 taken in 1903, was much less than the catch in 1899 or 

 1890. 



German carp. — This species is mentioned separately 

 because it has risen from an inferior rank to one of 

 prominence since the last canvass. Though con- 

 tributing only 6 per cent of the quantity and 3 per 

 cent of the value of the state product in 1908, Ger- 

 man carp ranked seventh in value and the quantity 

 caught was greater than that of yellow perch. It 

 was not taken in Lake Superior, nor to any extent in 

 Lake Michigan, but it contributed over one-half of the 

 weight and over one-third of the value of the total 

 fishery product reported for Lake Erie, to which lake 

 over two-thirds of the weight of the Michigan capture 

 of carp is credited. The shore and boat fisheries of 

 Lake Huron reported about one-half of the weight and 

 over one-half of the value of the product not taken 

 in Lake Erie, while Lake St. Clair reported most of 

 the remainder. 



