FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES IN 1885. 295 



The manufactured products consisted of 10,000 pounds of caviare. 



Statistical summary. — Without taking into consideration the men en- 

 gaged in the ice fishery off Buffalo, there were, in Erie County, in 1885, 

 383 semi-professional fishermen, and 16 shoresmen and preparators. 

 The most reliable estimates place the number of ice fishermen at 800 

 or 1,000 in 1885. 



The apparatus consisted of 133 boats ; 33 sturgeon gill-nets, 103,613 

 feet in length; 50 whitefish and trout gill-nets, 108,166 feet in length; 

 4 seines, 1,720 feet in length ; 930,000 feet of set-lines, with 62,000 

 hooks ; 425 fish-cars, and 175 sleds. The capital invested in boats was 

 $2,640; in gill-nets, $506; in seinos, $185; in set-lines, $625; in fish- 

 cars, $6,300; in other apparatus, $1,980; in wharves, buildings, etc., 

 $34,037 ; the working capital being $22,000. The total amount invested 

 in the fisheries was $66,473. 



The amount of fish taken was 2,011,425 pounds of pike and pickerel, 

 3,660,000 pounds of sturgeon, 14,000 pounds of bass, 8,000 pounds of 

 perch, 13,175 pounds of whitefish, 12,000 pounds of herring, 5,200 

 pounds of trout, and 250,000 minnows used for bait, the total value 

 of the catch being $305,241.87. 



