FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. I I 7 



Previous to the fall of 1890, all of the whitefish eggs hatched by New York State 

 Fish Commissions were obtained from Lakes Ontario and Michigan, in November and 

 December of each year, but on account of storms and scarcity of fish in recent years, 

 the number obtained, was always very uncertain, and the expenses were sure to be 

 heavy. It is seldom that storms of sufficient strength occur to interfere with our work 

 of collecting eggs on our inland lakes, so that we can now always calculate on 

 obtaining whitefish eggs at a reasonable expense, and as the fishing grounds are within 

 two or three hours from the hatcheries, there is but slight loss in transportation, 

 whereas, by the old method it was often a month after the eggs were taken before 

 they arrived at our hatcheries. At present it would be almost impossible to collect 

 under the most favorable circumstances 5,000,000 whitefish eggs at the east end of 

 Lake Ontario. Formerly this was the best spawning ground for whitefish in the lake. 



For the past five years, plants of whitefish fry have been made by the Commission 

 in Lake Ontario, from Charlotte west to Lewiston, and the past summer the fishing 

 off the Niagara county shore has been better than it has been before in thirty years. 

 I state this upon the most reliable information. The fishermen in that section all 

 unite in saying, that if the plants can be continued in a liberal manner, the old-time 

 fishing can be restored. 



A few years ago the United States Fish Commission, and some of the States 

 bordering on the Great Lakes, erected large and extensive whitefish hatcheries, some 

 single plants having a capacity for handling 200,000,000 eggs. To-day part of them 

 are running about half their capacity, and others are closed. All of this is due to the 

 great falling off in the whitefish catch. Ten or fifteen years ago some of the best 

 authorities in the country predicted that unless the whitefish were protected at once, 

 they would soon be exterminated. 



This matter was deemed of such importance that meetings were called by people 

 interested in the subject, and the matter was thoroughly discussed, and the States 

 bordering on the Great Lakes were asked to provide a close season, and to restrict 

 the size of the mesh of the nets the fishermen were using, but on account of the oppo- 

 sition by the fishermen, little was accomplished. 



Two years ago Michigan passed a law, making a close season on whitefish and 

 lake trout during the greater part of their spawning season. These facts demonstrate 

 the necessity for better protection of the comparatively few whitefish that still remain 

 in our State waters. 



We have found whitefish in abundance in Hemlock Lake this season, weighing 

 from three to ten pounds each. A small plant of whitefish was made in one of our 

 northern inland lakes in 1894-5. This fall we found that these whitefish had attained 

 an average weight of one and one-half pounds each, and that they were abundant. 



