216 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES, 



abundant. In 1883 the trap-net grounds of Thunder Bay failed for 

 the first time, aud the fishing in 1884 was equally as bad." 



The same authority says that in his own opinion (as one interested 

 in the fisheries, but not actively concerned either with gill-nets or 

 trap-nets) the decrease is owing mainly to excessive and unwise fish- 

 ing, especially during the spawning season. When whitefish were 

 abundant their favorite spawning ground was a shoal about 5 miles 

 from the shore, which they visited in countless numbers during the 

 month of November. On this ground it was not an uncommon thing 

 to catch in one net 200 pounds of whitefish during a single night ; and 

 boats often returned to their fish-houses with from 20 to 30 barrels, 

 taken at a single lift from a gang of twenty or more gill-nets. During 

 a season hundreds and thousands of barrels of whitefish were thus 

 caught, the females being full of spawn which was left to rot in the 

 offal pile. The water on the spawning ground is 5 or 6 fathoms in 

 depth, and being fully exposed to the seas that roll on Lake Huron in 

 November, is stirred to the bottom whenever a gale is raging from 

 the northeast or southwest. At such times hundreds of gill-nets loaded 

 with fish were swept away and never recovered by the fishermen, but 

 remained on the bottom polluting the waters. Mr. Wires further states : 

 " Weeks before the spawning season commenced, the gill-nets and trap- 

 nets had been at work catching fish full of unripe spawn. Is it, there- 

 fore, any wonder that whitefish have decreased in numbers, and that 

 once valuable fisheries have become almost barren and worthless?" 

 He says the fishermen look to artificial propagation to restore the 

 abundance of fish in this locality. 



Fishing stations. — The fishing at present is scattered along the whole 

 coast of the county from Middle Island to Scarecrow Island. At Os- 

 sineke, where there were large pound-net fisheries for many years, the 

 results since 1882 have been so poor that there was not a single net set 

 there in 1885. No gill-net fishing has ever been carried on from that place. 

 Middle Island is low and sterile, and is inhabitated only by a United 

 States life-saving crew and a few fishermen, who find here a very good 

 harbor for their little boats. The beach is gravelly and the water shal- 

 low. Gill-nets are set on the rocky and gravelly bottom, near the isl- 

 and, for whitefish and trout. The season for trout begins September 

 20, and for whitefish during the month of November. Nine Mile Point 

 is inhabited only by fishermen. At the extreme end its shore is rocky 

 and the water deep, but elsewhere it is low and sandy, with irregular 

 outlines and very shallow waters. There is a good harbor for fishing- 

 boats. Pound-nets were introduced here in 1884, and are set on clay 

 ground for whitefish, pickerel, bass, herring, and sturgeon, but only 

 small results are secured. • A number of pound-nets are located at 

 Round Island, an islet at the mouth of Little Thunder Bay. Some 

 pickerel, bass, and herring are taken in these, though the catch is 

 principally whitefish, which are most abundant here before the begin- 





