502 



ULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



methods of floating nets are in principle like those employed on Lake Erie, but it is 

 interesting that they were put into practice first on Lake Superior and were arrived 

 at independently on the other lakes. 



SEASONAL MOVEMENTS 



The herring schools appear to spend more of their time near the surface in Lake 

 Superior than in the other lakes, probably because its water is colder, and the seasonal 

 inshore movements are not so pronounced. However, there is a definite congregation 

 of the species on the shores in late fall, and it is at this time only that the schools become 

 the object of intensive fishing operations. 



Data on occurrence in the herring nets in fall. — At Grand Marais, Mich., according 

 to William Doolan and Charles MacDonald, the herring come ashore on sand toward 

 the end of October and remain until the ice forms in early December. At times, at 

 least, in the fall they are in water as shallow as 3 or 4 fathoms. They are seen seldom 

 under the ice, the fishermen say. At Marquette, Mich., the schools come ashore 

 east to northwest of the city on sand bottom, according to Will Parker. They are 

 present in commercial quantities about November 10 and remain until about the 

 first week in December. At first they are in 8 to 9 fathoms of water but later move 

 out to 14 or even 20. The account given for Ontonagon, Mich., by Earl Couture, and 

 for the Apostle Islands, Wis., by M. B. Johnson, of Bayfield, are virtually the same 

 as for Marquette, except that around the Apostle Islands the fish frequent somewhat 

 shallower water. James Scott informs me that at Grand Marais, Minn., the fisher- 

 men begin commercial operations about the 1st of October. The nets are floated 

 offshore at that time, about 4 fathoms below the surface. The lifts are heaviest in 

 November, and during this month the nets are lowered to about 7 fathoms. Fishing 

 is discontinued in early December. In Thunder Bay, out of Port Arthur and Fort 

 William, Ontario, the schools begin moving in from the west between Pie Island and 

 the mainland about the middle of November and spread northward and eastward. 

 They remain until early December and depart then rather suddenly over the same 

 course. While in the bay they are taken at depths of 6 to 25 fathoms on mud and 

 clay bottom. Commercial fishing operations for the species in Thunder Bay date 

 from the Great War, and almost incredible quantities were taken by the virgin 

 fisheries. John and Lew Maloney, James and Frank Gerow, and Oscar Anderson, 

 of Port Arthur, affirm the correctness of the above account. 



Data on occurrence at other seasons. — At Marquette, Mich., W. A. Morrison says 

 the herring are present in commercial quantities in his pound nets in 30 feet only for 

 a short period in late June. At Grand Marais, Minn., according to the testimony of 

 James Scott, they are fished for during the year in floated nets a mile or more offshore, 

 except, of course, in the fall and for a short period in late July and early August, 

 when they are hard on the beach. On July 17 and 18 schools of young of the year 

 were seined by me at the mouth of the Devils Track River and in the Grand Marais 

 Harbor (records 13 and 14). No older individuals were included in the seine 

 hauls, but they could have avoided the net easily. Hankinson (1914) got fingerlings 

 on the beach at Whitefish Point in mid-August, 1913. Fishermen out of most of the 

 ports visited believe they have seen schools of herring swimming near the surface 

 in the open lake during the summer months, and those who fish pound nets for trout 



