DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES,

32
establishments. Whilst their accounts are most gratifying, it must, nevertheless,
be borne in mind that a very great proportion of this increase must be credited to
the work carried on at the Sandwich Hatchery, on the Canadian side of the Detroit
River, as the Sandwich whitefish nursery was the first of the kind established in
America, and was actively engaged in putting out whitefish fry by the million in the
Detroit River and Lake Erie, some time prior to the erection of any whitefish
hatchery in the United States; and it would appear from the published reports of
the United States Fish Commission that, up to the year 1883, the one Canadian estab.
lishment at Sandwich had actually planted in the Detroit River and Lake Erie, upwards
of sixteen millions and a-half more fry more than were put out of the United States
and Ohio and Michigan States Fish Commission nurseries all combined; and that in
addition there have been put out from this Canadian hatchery into the above named
waters annually, since 1883, whitefish fry numbering in the gross upwards of 220,-
000,000. It is, therefore, only fair to conclude that a large share of the increase in
the catch of whitefish in the Detroit River and Lake Erie, must be credited to the
large output of young whitefish bred in the Sandwich nursery.
RESULTS OF HATCHING WHITEFISH.
(From "Forest and Stream.")
"Whitefish were reported to be so plentiful in Lake Erie last year that the
fishermen scarcely knew what to do with them. Seven hundred and fifty tons
(1,500,(J0() pounds) were frozen for shipments by a single firm in Huron, Ohio.
Sandusky is fast becoming one of the great fresh fish markets of the world4 Mr.
E. B. Carter, one of the most prominent of fish dealers in Erie, attributes the present
prosperity of the whitefish industry to artificial propagation. Some seasons ago
fishing for whitefish had become so improfitabie that he, with others, concluded to
abandon it entirely. In 1886 a slight improvement was noticed, but now the catch
is double what it was in 1886. This result, Mr. Carter states, is due to the worI of the
hatcheries, for the fish are almost without exception young, weighing about two
pounds. The increased catch, and the unmistakable character of the fish is admitted
also by many fishermen of experience. And the establishments at Erie, as well as
others in Michigan and Ohio now receive the credit which fairly belongs to them. The
prices of fish now are about two-thirds of what they were in 1885. The catch of whitefish
at Erie in 1888 was 2,200,000 pounds, an increase of a third over that of 1887."
IMMENSE CATCH LAST SEASON, THE RESULT OF ARTIFICAL PROPAGATION.
DETROIT, 17th October, 1888.—Mr. George B. Mussey, Secretary of th9,Michigan
Fish Commission, has just returned from a trip along the American shores of Lake
Erie. The trip was ordered by the Commission for the purpose of finding out the
size of the catch of whitefish in the lakes. Mr. Mussey says: "The dealers told me
it was the largest catch they had taken for fifteen years. The catch is due, according
to them, almost entirely to State propagation, and planting of the fish. The catch
from Lake Erie is the largest taken from any lake in the United States, and we say
it is so, because there are more fish planted there. Pennsylvania plants there from
her hatchery at Erie, Ohio from Sandusky, the United States from Northville hatch.
ery, and Michigan from the Detroit hatchery. To show the value of propagation by
the hatcheries, a gentleman of Erie gave me a few figures: The fishing industry is
valued at $400,000 a year in that part, and one-fourth of that is whitefish. About
$15,000 is expended on whitefish by the Fish Commission of Pennsylvania, for the
whole State (three hatcheries), and they say the whole industry is due to artificial
propagation, or at an expenditure of $7,000, they erect a business of one hundred
thousand dollars a ?jear."
FROM PENNSYLVANIA STATE COMMISSION ADDRESS TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
"It is the intention of the Commission to continue the stocking of the rivers yearly
with shad and game fish; but, to do this, fish protection must go hand in hand with
fish propagation, and for this we must have suitable laws.