FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES IN 1885. 243 



86. MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



Geographical description. — Monroe County, which occupies the south- 

 east coruer of the lower peninsula of Michigan, is washed by the waters 

 of the upper end of Lake Erie aloug its whole eastern boundary, which 

 is between 40 and 50 miles in length. The coast-line is broadly undu- 

 lating and occasionally broken, and the neighboring lake bottom is 

 formed of sand, clay, and mud. Monroe, a place of 6,500 inhabitants, 

 is the only city. Besides this there are several villages and small set- 

 tlements from 1 to 5 miles from the shore and one farming and fishing 

 settlement with no post-office, called Brest, a few miles northeast of 

 Monroe at the mouth of Stony Creek. The population along the shore 

 and for many miles toward the interior consists principally of persons 

 of French descent. 



Methods of fishing. — The fisheries, which are of great importance, are 

 operated mostly by Monroe or Toledo capital, and are carried on chiefly 

 with pound-nets, but there is some fishing with set-lines for catfish and 

 turtles in summer, with seines and fykes in late autumn, winter, and 

 early spring, and with spears through the ice for a month or two in 

 winter. The pound-net has been in use here since 1857. The leading 

 fishery operations are conducted by a Toledo firm which has stations 

 at Stony Point, Pointe Manillee, and Monroe, besides its principal one 

 at Brest. Some of the fishermen are residents of Monroe or Toledo and 

 others are scattered along the shore, in some cases having small farms 

 within a convenient distance from the water. Those who live far from 

 their fishing-ground frequently have fishing shanties on the beach. The 

 owners of apparatus commonly hire the fishermen, paying, in 1884, $25 

 to $30 per month, with board, to the common fishermen, and $40 to $60 

 per mouth, with board, to foremen and boat captains. The boats used 

 are occasionally made by the fishermen themselves, but are usually 

 purchased from regular boat-builders at Toledo, Sandusky, and Port 

 Clinton. A few are constructed in Monroe. 



Relative abundance of the different species offish. — Although there are 

 no reefs along this coast, it is claimed by some that the whitefish spawn 

 here to some extent. It is stated, however, by competent author- 

 ity — one who has had twenty-five years 7 experience as a fishery opera- 

 tor in this section — that whitefish of less than a pound weight are 

 rarely taken here. The species was formerly very abundant, but has 

 gradually diminished in numbers while at the same time improving ma- 

 terially in size. Where from ten to fifteen years ago between 75 and 

 100 tons of whitefish were caught in a season with fifteen nets, only 25 

 or 30 tons are now obtained from sixty nets. The decrease is attributed 

 to the greatly increased number of gill-nets and pound-nets about the 

 islands and in other places, and also to the small mesh of the gill-nets 

 used on the fishing-grounds at the eastern end of the lake. The aver- 

 age size of the whitefish, which was formerly from 2 to 3 pounds, is now 



