128 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
cations of the changes. Under any circumstances, of course, reasonable allowances 
must be made for such fluctuations as occur from year to year without the inter- 
vention of artificial obstructions or improvements, and for such as might result 
from developments other than the dam. 
The full reports of the statistical surveys of the fisheries of the lakes for the 
years 1914, 1917, 1922, and 1927, respectively, are found in the reports of the Com- 
missioner of Fisheries for the fiscal years 1916 (pp. 58-60), 1918 (pp. 77-80), 1924 
(Appendix IV, Fisheries Industries of the United States by Oscar E. Sette), and 1928 
(pp. 544-546). The results of the surveys are summarized in Tables 6 and 7. 
Attention should be directed first to the fact that between the years 1914 and 
1917 prices of fishery products had risen substantially under the influence of war 
conditions, the average price per pound for all fish being more than 40 per cent higher 
in the latter year than in the former. The higher price obtainable no doubt proved 
a stimulus to the fisheries, for the coarser fishes particularly. Again, prices had 
declined by 1922, and this might be supposed to have an effect. However, since, the 
returns from all other forms of labor had risen and then fallen in a somewhat corre- 
sponding manner, it does not appear at all probable that the stimulation due to 
price could have had so pronounced an effect as to create an appearance of abundance 
where actual scarcity prevailed. All comparisons in the text will be made, not 
on the basis of value but with reference to quantities in pounds of catch. 
Table 6.— Fisheries of Lake Keokuk, 1914, 1917, 1922, and 1927 
Items 
OPERATING UNITS 
Fishermen 
Boats: 
Motor 
Other 
Fishing apparatus: 1 
Seines 
Anchored gill nets. 
Trammel nets 
Fyke nets 
Fish traps.. 
Dip nets 
PRODUCTS 
Black bass 
Bowfin 
Buffalo fish.. 
Carp, German 
Catfish and bullheads 
Crappie 
Eels.. 
Fresh-water drum or sheepshead 
Pike 
Pike perch, sauger 
Quillback or American carp 
Spoonbill cat, or paddlefish. 
Sturgeon, sand 2 
Sturgeon, shovelnose 
Suckers 
Sunfish 
Turtles 
Total 
1514 
Number 
105 
14 
1,378 
Pounds 
15 
249, 900 
302, 365 
71, 535 
70 
3, 800 
26, 860 
1, 900 
4, 640 
50 
661, 135 
1917 
Number 
118 
52 
80 
1 
12 
17 
1,368 
81 
Pounds 
4, 163 
26, 000 
696, 543 
762, 259 
109, 904 
17, 560 
2,087 
160, 554 
20 
5, 936 
927 
454 
700 
13,879 
1, 800, 986 
1922 
Number 
122 
58 
111 
2 
235 
17 
1,301 
1 
Pounds 
6, 200 
113, 946 
276, 431 
183, 919 
13, 770 
65, 040 
"~2,280" 
27, 405 
600" 
"Il,~590" 
701, 181 
1927 
Number 
102 
70 
82 
3 
26 
1,594 
815 
Pounds 
14, 055 
67, 872 
291, 199 
140, 343 
27, 538 
9, 880 
1,249 
13, 563 
385 
566, 084 
1 Trot and hand lines are omitted from this statement because data on the quantity in use are not available. 
2 Reported as lake sturgeon in 1914. 
