GREAT LAKES COREGONIDS 



511 



Data on summer occurrence.- — The herring are not followed in the spring because 

 other fish can be taken in greater quantity at that time, and the only data we have 

 on the location of the herring schools in summer are from the east end of the lake. 

 On Lake Ontario few fishermen claim ever to have seen herring swimming at the 

 surface in the open lake, a phenomenon not uncommonly witnessed in the upper 

 lakes where the water is cooler, and the belief is held generally that these fish sink 

 to the bottom and remain there during the warm months. On the eastern New 

 York shores, off Sandy Pond, Selkirk, and Port Ontario, within the last 10 years, 

 and within the last two years off Oswego, the fishermen have taken to herring fishing 

 when the whitefish fell off or they employed herring nets along with the whitefish 

 nets. The herring are found, according to Perry Bartlett, Garry Tiff t, and Jacob 

 Fickeis, fishermen at the aforementioned ports, from May, when the nets are put 

 in, to about September in 20 to 30 fathoms of water and even deeper. The lifts 

 during July and August are best, and the herring run large, as nets of 3-inch mesh 

 are used exclusively. Lifts examined by me off Selkirk on July 11, 1921, in about 

 30 fathoms, and off Sandy Pond on August 24, 1923, at about the same depth, 

 showed herring to occur in these waters in abundance. A lift witnessed on September 

 1, 1923, off Oswego in 30 fathoms had few fish, although Mr. Fickeis said that in 

 August the lifts had been so heavy that it had been impossible to dispose of the fish 

 caught. About September the lifts drop off in the deep water, and the fish appar- 

 ently rise above the bottom at that season. Mr. Fickeis used a number of deep 

 bull nets employed on Lake Erie, which fish up to 25 feet above the bottom, and on 

 September 1 it was only in these nets that any quantity of herring was taken. 



The occurrence of herring in abundance at depths of 30 fathoms is unknown in 

 any other lake except Erie, where it is known that they occupy the maximum depths 

 of 30 to 35 fathoms in December; but this situation may be accounted for by the 

 peculiar limnological conditions in Lake Ontario. In none of the other lakes are 

 nets in danger during a blow in 30 fathoms, and except in the colder months such 

 nets usually would show no influence of the wind. In Lake Ontario, on the other 

 hand, summer breezes may demolish netting by the induced currents at depths of 

 30 fathoms. Nets lifted on August 24, 1923, off Sandy Pond from 30 fathoms, after 

 one of the breezes usually experienced in late summer, were practically destroyed 

 by the debris that the currents swept into them. Tree trunks 10 feet long and 

 4 inches and more in diameter were among the detritus. The force of the currents 

 is greatest in the shallow water and no doubt diminishes toward the deeper water, 

 so that to escape these unsettled conditions the herring may seek refuge in water 

 deeper than in the other lakes. Unfortunately, no temperature readings were taken 

 anywhere on Lake Ontario, so that it is not known whether temperature is a factor 

 in this depth migration of the herring. The maximum depth to which individuals 

 migrate is not known, but a few specimens were taken in 3 to 3^ inch gill nets lifted 

 on August 30, 1923, off Sandy Pond, N. Y., from 60 fathoms, and on September 4, 

 1923, off Oswego, N. Y., from 70 to 75 fathoms (records 9 and 12). 



The records of the fishermen covering commercial-fishing operations for the her- 

 ring thus show that they begin to move ashore in commercial quantities in early 

 October and that they continue on these grounds until the ice forms in early December. 

 The deep-water form at the western end of the lake comes no nearer shore than 15 



