FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 



U3 



The second season's work was carried on during the summer of 1897, and lasted 

 longer than that of the previous year. More nets were also in use, but the result was 

 not as satisfactory as to number of billfish captured, but again it was highly satis- 

 factory, as the following figures will show that we had already reduced the number of 

 billfish in the lake and that they were not as numerous as reported. 



There still remains an unexpended balance of $127.49, which, with careful 

 management, should be sufficient to reduce the stock of billfish in Chautauqua lake so 

 that it will be unnecessary for further appropriations. 



During the whole two seasons' work no game fish were killed. 



The billfish caught would weigh from three-quarters of a pound to twelve pounds 

 each. 



Billfish caught and killed during the year 1896, ; 

 Billfish caught and killed during the year 1897, . 



Total, 



2,606 



3>9 2 2 



Whitefish. — Early in the fiscal year it was found that in Canandaigua lake there 

 were quantities of the Labrador whitefish, which is one of the very best for the table, 

 and that their spawning beds were all located where pound nets could be readily set 

 to catch them as they went on the beds to spawn. Pound nets are one of the few 

 nets used that do not kill or injure the fish, but as these nets had never been set there 

 before, and as no one could tell just the day the whitefish commenced spawning in 

 Canandaigua lake, the first year's attempt was an experiment, and the result was 

 awaited with considerable anxiety. The nets were put in the last of October so as to 

 be on time. The setting of a pound net is no small job, as soundings have first to 

 be carefully made as to depth and condition of the bottom, for some of the stakes used 

 in setting the nets are from fifteen to twenty-four feet long. They have to be driven 

 from boats when there is no wind. The netting or webbing alone to some of the 

 single nets weighs from seven to eight hundred pounds, and it must be set securely to 

 withstand the winds and oftentimes ice, as the nets are never taken up until the fishing 

 is finished for the season. 



It was a pleasure to receive a telegram from the men in charge of the nets saying 

 that they had caught nearly 500 whitefish the night before, but that the fish were not 

 ready to spawn. That catch settled the question as to whether our nets were in the 

 proper places. The whitefish spawn at night, going on the beds after dark and 

 returning to the deep water before daylight. By going to the nets every morning 

 and handling a few of the fish an expert can tell about how long it will be before the 

 fish are ready to spawn. If, in his opinion, it will be some days, then he raises the 

 shore end of the net (which is called the leader) at the point where it goes into the 



