12 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Considering the slow growth of the whitefish — three to* four years 

 being required for it to attain maturity — it will be seen that the effect 

 of artificial fish-breeding on the lakes could not be fully ascertained, nor 

 could it be fully appreciated in 1885, for sufficent time had not then 

 elapsed to put fish culture to a crucial test. Still, from the facts ob- 

 tained at that time, the fair and aatural conclusion is that but for the 

 assistance given to nature by man, the supply of the most important 

 species of lake fish would have been so much reduced in a short time 

 that no remunerative fishery could be supported, while this class of food 

 would become a luxury attainable only by the rich, instead of being 

 cheap and available to all. 



This was the almost universal sentiment among those qualified to 

 judge. This opinion has been fully substantiated in recent years, and 

 notwithstanding the use of greater quantities of improved apparatus 

 for the capture of fish, and much activity in fishing, the general verdict 

 is that instead of a marked decrease in abundance, which might be 

 expected under natural conditions, there has been a very noticeable 

 increase in those regions where fish-cultural operations have been of 

 sufficient magnitude and there has been time for the fish to reach ma- 

 turity. 



In the years succeeding 1885 fish culture has been carried on more 

 extensively in the lake region, and an investigation of those fisheries 

 now will doubtless show most fully the important influence which man 

 can exert by breeding fish. 



Partial returns for 1888 indicate a marked increase in the abundance 

 of fish in localities where artificial propagation has been systematically 

 carried on upon a large scale. This is especially noticeable in the fish- 

 eries of the western end of Lake Erie. In the region embraced between 

 Toledo and Vermillion, and including those towns, together with Port 

 Clinton, Sandusky, Bass Islands, and Huron, the increase in the quantity 

 offish taken in 1888, as compared with 1885, amounts to about 12,000,000 

 pounds, having a market value of over $300,000. In the case of white- 

 fish the catch in 1888 in the regiou named was nearly as large as that 

 of the entire lake in 1885. 



The great consequence of this will be appreciated when the large and 

 increasing numbers of people within easy reach of the principal lake 

 markets are taken into consideration. At the present time they depend 

 largely upon the lakes for a supply of fish food, and this dependence 

 will increase in coming years with the growth of population. 



6. COMPARISONS WITH 1880. 



In the annual report of the Commissioner for 1884 it is stated that "it 

 is now proposed to collect systematically the statistics of the fisheries of 

 the Great Lakes in 1885, and to show by comparison with corresponding 

 figures made by the Census of 1880 more accurately what the change has 

 been, whether for the better or the worse." 



