244 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



from 3 to 4 pounds, and in the season of 1884 was greater than in any 

 previous year. They are now caught chiefly between the middle of No- 

 vember and the middle of December. While the whitefish have been 

 decreasing in number, and voracious species like lake trout have been 

 almost exterminated, the hard3 r ail< i proline herring, thus rid of their 

 worst enemies, have been on the increase, and the catch in 1884 was 

 the largest ever known. At one place where 42,000 pounds were taken 

 in ten pound-nets in 1881, the quantity had risen in 1884 to 134,000 

 pounds for twelve nets. The average size of herring has meanwhile 

 risen from half a pound to three-quarters of a pound. Sturgeon were 

 originally very abundant, but for many years only a few were made use 

 of and the remainder were thrown away. 



Trade. — About three-quarters of the fish taken are sent to Toledo 

 dealers for shipment. Part of the remainder are sent to Detroit, others 

 are shipped from Monroe to towns in the interior, and others, especially 

 of lower grades, such as herring, bull-heads, and saugers, are sold lo- 

 cally or peddled through the country. 



A Detroit firm has, near Monroe, on the Kaisin River, a freezing- 

 house for whitefish and trout, which are mostly brought from the upper 

 lakes. The Toledo firm also, in its establishment at Brest, salts, freezes, 

 and smokes fish, and manufactures caviare. 



About 1860 whitefish sold at $3 per hundred ; the price gradually 

 advanced to $10 per hundred in 1867 and 1868, when they ceased to be 

 sold by count. At present they bring from 4 to 5 cents per pound. 



Statistics. — The number of fishermen in 1885 was 224, besides 10 who 

 were only occasionally employed, and there were 35 shoresmen, me- 

 chanics, and preparators. These fished 204 pound-nets, 43 fyke-nets, 4j 

 seines, and 100 set-lines of 300 hooks each, using 133 boats. The capital 

 invested amounted to $74,867, of which $33,400 was the value of vessels 

 and boats, $41,725 the value of pound-nets, $900 the value of seines,] 

 $1,500 the value of fykes, set-lines, and spears, $7,970 the value of 

 wharves and buildings, $1,000 the cash capital, and $4,170 the value 

 of minor apparatus and accessories, including fish-cars. The products 

 were 133,400 pounds of whitefish, 214,400 pounds of catfish and bull-1 

 heads, 837,200 pounds of herring, 91,300 pounds of sturgeon, 220,000 

 pounds of wall-eyed pike (locally known as "pickerel"), 25,000 pounds 

 of bass, 91,200 pounds of saugers, and 209,400 pounds of perch, suck- 

 ers, and other fish, making a total of 1,821,900 pounds, worth $34,824. 

 These figures include the village of Eockwood, just north of the upper 

 county-line j on the other hand, the little strip of Monroe County which 

 borders on Maumee Bay is omitted, as its fisheries are entirely oper- 

 ated from Toledo and are naturally included with the other fisheries of 

 Maumee Bay and River. 



Pound-net fishery. — The first pound-net on this shore was set in 1857 

 by parties from Saybrook, Connecticut, who had previously been fish- 

 ing with the same kind of apparatus in other parts of the lake. The 



