Fishery bulletin of the Fish and Wildlife Service - NOAA

THE WHITEFISH FISHERY OF LAKES HURON AND
MICHIGAN WITH SPECIAL, REFERENCE TO
THE DEEP-TRAP-NET FISHERY 1
By JOHN VAN OOSTJSN, Ph. D., RALPH HILE, Ph. D., and FRANK W. JOBES, Ph. D.,
Aquatic Biologists, Division of Fishery Biology, Fish and Wildlife Service
CONTENTS
General introduction
Page
298
PABT I
Production of whitefish in Lakes Huron
and Michigan, 1879-1939
Lake Huron '.
Lake Michigan ._.
Recent large increase in the production
of whitefish in Great Lakes
waters
PABT II
Fluctuations in the production and abundance
of whitefish and in the intensity of
the whitefish fishery in the State of Michigan
waters of Lakes Huron and Michigan,
1929-1939
Introduction
302
302
305
308
311
311
Methods of analysis .y
311
Statistical districts 311
Production , 312
Units of fishing effort 313
Estimation of abundance and fishing
intensity -, 314
General remarks 315
Whitefish fishery of Lake Huron, 1929-
1939 317
Fluctuations in the production of
whitefish in Lake Huron 317
Changes in production in Lake Huron
as related to fluctuations in
the abundance of whitefish and in
the intensity of the fishery 323
Whitefish fishery of Lake Michigan,
1929-1939 333
Fluctuations in the production of
whitefish in Lake Michigan 334
Changes in production in Lake
Michigan as related to fluctuations
in the abundance of whitefish
and in the intensity of the
fishery 338
PABT III
Bathymétrie distribution of whitefish and
of certain other species in the shallower
waters of Lakes Huron and Michigan 348
Bathymétrie distribution of whitefish
in Lake Huron 348
Northern Lake Huron (Cheboygan
and Rogers City) 348
Alpena-Ossineke grounds 348
Saginaw Bay area (Oscoda, East
Tawas, and Bay Port) 350
'Approved for publication September 5, 1044. Fishery Bulletin 40.
Page
Bathymétrie distribution, etc.—Continued
Harbor Beach grounds 352
Bathymétrie distribution of whitefish
in Lake Michigan ,352
Green Bay area (Marinette, Escanaba,
and Fairport) 352
Northeastern Lake Michigan (Manietique,
Epoufette, and Naubinway)
353
Summary and comparison of the
bathymétrie distribution of whitefish
in Lakes Huron and Michigan,
with special reference to the regulation
of the fishery 357
Bathymétrie distribution of other
species 359
Lake trout 359
Yellow pike 361
Burbot 363
White sucker and long-nosed or
sturgeon sucker 364
PART IV
Observations on the fishing action of'pound
nets and deep trap nets 365
Effect of the size of the mesh On the
catch of legal- and illegal-sized '
whitefish and lake trout 365
'Destruction of whitefish through gilling
in the meshes of pound nets and
deep trap nets 370
Bloating of live whitefish in pound
nets and deep trap nets 371
Dead whitefish in pound nets and
deep trap nets 372
Estimates of the probable destruction
of illegal-sized whitefish in certain
localities and years 373
Shrinkage of the twine in pound nets
and deep trap nets ..: 375
Summary 376
Appendix A.—Sources of the data on production,
1879-1939 ....; 380
Appendix B.—Detailed statistics on whitefish
production in State of Michigan
waters of Lakes Huron and Michigan,
1929-1939 382
Appendix C.—Investigation of pound nets
and deep trap nets in the Wisconsin
waters of Lake Michigan, 1931 385
Appendix D.—The whitefish fishery of
Lakes Huron and Michigan, 1940-1942 388
297