FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 1 93 



was especially noteworthy, the increase over 1897 being 1,391,166 pounds. The 

 accompanying table shows, for certain years, the catch of the principal species sepa- 

 rately, also the total catch for. the lake and the value of the same. 



The increased yield of fishes in this lake in 1899, as compared with former years 

 when the fisheries were canvassed, was almost entirely in the common species. 

 Among the more important species herring shows a small increase over 1897, while 

 sturgeon increased over both 1893 and 1897. The trout catch has been insignificant 

 since 1880. The catch of whitefish in 1897, as compared with that for 1893, showed 

 an increase, but it dropped off somewhat in 1899. Efforts are being made, through 

 artificial propagation, by the U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries and the State 

 Fish Commission, to increase the supply of the more valuable species, especially 

 whitefish, and beneficial results are already apparent. 



The principal fishing in Lake Ontario is carried on from Jefferson county, where 

 nearly one-half of the total catch is made. Niagara county, at the western end of 

 the lake, ranks next in this respect. In the eastern end of the lake the use of all 

 kinds of netting is allowed in the numerous bays, and as a result the catch is made 

 up principally of the common fishes. In Niagara county gill nets and set lines form 

 the principal apparatus and the catch is made up of the better varieties ; the greater 

 part of the catch of whitefish and blue pike is made in this county. 



There is no vessel fishery on this lake at the present time, the catch, as a whole, 

 being made with boats of less than five tons. Two vessels were used in transport- 

 ing fish from Canada. 



Salmon. — Many years ago Atlantic salmon {Sahno salar) were common in Lake 

 Ontario and its tributaries. They gradually diminished, however, owing to over fish- 

 ing and the pollution and obstructions in the rivers where the spawning beds were 

 located, so that of late years the appearance of one has been a rarity. 



Sixty or seventy years ago they were especially abundant in Salmon River, 

 according to the late Mr. B. E. Ingersoll, of Oswego. " He was born and lived 

 within 100 rods of the river until 16 years of age. His grandfather was the second 

 man to settle in the town of Richland, and his father was brought to the region at 

 the age of two years. The abundance of salmon seems to have been a very impor- 

 tant factor in the settlement of the region ; the salmon were all the settlers had to 

 depend on for ready money and constituted a valuable and easily accessible food. 

 About fifty years ago his father and a Mr. Arthur Matheson, while fishing from a 

 boat with jacklight and spear, caught 601 salmon in a single night."* 



* Report on the Fisheries of Lake Ontario, by Hugh M. Smith. Bull. U. S. Fish Com. for 1890, 

 p. 196. 



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