FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES IN 1885. 281 



GUI-net fishery. — The gill-net fishing at Erie began as long ago as 

 1852, and has been steadily prosecuted from that date to the present 

 time. For a long time the only boats used for visiting the nets, 

 often set as far as 20 miles out in the open lake, were little sail-boats 

 which could not be employed except when the weather was favorable, 

 and many inconveniences and interruptions were the consequence. In 

 the years 1881 and 1882 one or two steamers from the western end of 

 the lake were tried here with such success that one firm after another 

 provided itself with vessels of this kind until in 1885 there were seven- 

 teen, valued at nearly $40,000, besides several others used for collect- 

 ing fish. These steamers are small, measuring only from 3 to 13 

 tons gross, and are provided with iron-liued holds forwardaud aft to 

 receive the fish. Their fishing grounds covered a wide area, extending 

 30 or 40 miles in each direction from their home port and across the 

 lake to within 8 miles of the Canadian shore. In addition to the steam- 

 ers there were between forty and fifty sailing crews engaged in this 

 fishery. The boats used are from 25 to 35 feet in length, rigged with 

 foresail and mainsail, and carry from 2 to 5 tons of fish. They are 

 made by local boat- builders. The twine of which the nets are made 

 comes from Eastern manufacturers. 



The fishing season is almost continuous, the only intermission being 

 in winter, when there is too much ice in the bay and lake. 



There was some gill-net fishing under the ice in 1884-'85 for blue 

 pike and herring, the products being hauled to shore upon sleighs. 



The nets used are 5 feet deep and from 38 to 74 fathoms long. Two 

 kinds are in use, one with a large mesh of 4^ to 4J inches for white- 

 fish and wall-eyed pike (here called "pickerel"), and the other with a 

 small mesh of 3£ to 3J inches for blue pike and herring. Since white- 

 fish frequent the same or closely adjoining grounds with the pike and 

 herring, a great many small whitefish, weighing from three quarters of 

 a pound to 3 pounds, are caught in the herring nets. The whitefish 

 caught in the large-meshed nets have a weight of from 3 to 7 pounds. 

 Some herring averagiug a pound each are caught in the large-meshed 

 nets ; those in the small ones weigh half or three-quarters of a pound 

 and are thus surpassed by the slender blue pike which average a pound. 

 Some of the nets are rigged with cork and lead, and others with the 

 old-fashioned floats and stones. 



Waste offish in gill-net fishing. — Enormous quantities of whitefish arc 

 lost every season by spoiling in the gill-nets. Mr. Bower, on the au- 

 thority of a prominent dealer at Erie, estimates that the waste is nearly 

 or quite equal to the entire whitefish catch at the western end of the 

 lake, west of Saudusky, amounting to at least 400 or 500 tons. 



Gilled whitefish soon drown if there is much current, as there gener- 

 ally is at this end of the lake, and then bloating and decomposition 

 ensue in a few hours. The arrangement of the nets is such that each 

 gang is lifted not ofteuer than once in two or three days, and in summer 



