Fishery bulletin of the Fish and Wildlife Service - NOAA

WHITEFISH FISHERY OF LAKES HURON AND MICHIGAN 337
the total for the lake in any single year (percentages of 12.6, 15.8, and 10.4 in 1933,
1934, and 1935, respectively).
Comparison of later and earlier production of whitefish in the various districts of
Lake Michigan (tables 15 and 16) reveals that M-3 contributed an even higher percentage
of the total for the lake in 1891-1908 (59.5 percent) than in 1929-1939 (45.9
percent). M-2 and M-4 also accounted for higher percentages of the total in the
earlier period (7.4 and 7.3 percent, respectively, as compared with 2.3 and 2.4 percent).
However, the percentages for these two districts may be too high for the years, 1891-
1908. As stated in footnote 23, the division of the catches for the early period was
based on the home ports of the fishermen, not necessarily on the actual location of their
fishing grounds. In recent years, at least, numbers of fishermen who operate .from
ports of M-2 and M-4 have done part of their fishing in other districts (chiefly in M-3).
It is believed that the data for the remaining districts were not affected greatly by the
separation of the catch of the earlier years according to the port from which the fishermen
operated.
TABLE 16.—Production of whitefish in pounds in Lake Michigan according to statistical districts, 1891-1908
Year
1891 _' .
1892
1893
1894 . .-
1885
1S96
1S97
1898
1899
1900.
1901. . .-
1902
1903
1904..
1905
1906
1907
1908
Average
Percentage
M-l
78,140
148,600
123,150
89,050
71,850
88,600
83570
85050
111 560
83,350
97,700
140 150
228,200
283,000
348,000
291,800
291,700
222,500
159,221
7 2
M-2
237,000
325,650
83,000
41,100
18,500
148,000
180,000
302,100
104,100
140,500
146,100
177,500
166,000
158,000
184,000
89,500
179,000
289,400
164,969
7 4
M-3
1,521,101
1,477,412
1,326,900
801,750
631,550
863,400
1,762 900
1,504,900
1,040,870
961,800
1,372,600
1,739,800
1,369,400
1,337,000
1,246,800
1,387,700
1,689,500
1,793,155
1,323,808
59 5
Statistic: il district
M-4
214,580
168 725
137 050
146 500
109,990
86,600
84300
84 200
87,500
104,000
148,700
200500
148,500
282,500
218,000
322,300
244,100
148,424
163,137
7 3
M-5
290,100
329 300
233600
147,300
138,000
210,750
261 700
303 000
249,600
292,000
278,200
429,000
319;500
338,000
338,500
322,500
330,000
337,116
286,009
12 9
M-6
41,050
41 100
19500
8730
7,400
10,000
13 700
16700
12,350
16,100
8,700
10,000
17,100
33,000
62,600
77,300
139,300
83,700
34,352
1 6
M-7
17,100
11,000
27,500
31,450
21,150
13,350
6053
6550
2,800
3,100
8,900
3,400
6,200
19,100
73,500
170,300
265,500
89,800
43 153
1 9
:
M-8
5,500
20,816
25,100
29,925
24,300
26,600
26,730
17,600
25,100
24,750
18,650
23,000
29,700
51,100
98,700
159,300
134,700
142,000
49,076
2 2
Total
2,404,571
2,522,402
1,975,800
1,295.805
1,022,740
1,447,300
2,418,953
2,320,100
1,633,880
1,625,600
2,079,550
2,723,350
2,284,600
2,501,700
2,570,100
2,820,700
3,273,800
3.106,095
2,223,725
М-1, М-5, М-6, М-7, and M-8 yielded smaller percentages of the total catch of
whitefish in 1891-1908 than in 1929-1939. Especially noteworthy are the comparative
yields for M-l which accounted for only 7.2 percent of the early total catch as against
22.6 percent of the recent production. The change was not large in M-5 (12.9 percent in
the early period ; 13.6 percent m the recent). The percentages were considerably lower
in 1891-1908 than in 1929-1939 for all three districts (M-6, M-7, and M-8) of southern
Lake Michigan (1.6, 1.9, and 2.2 percent as compared with 3.2, 4.4, and 5.6 percent).
Despite the changes just described in the nercentage distribution of the catch of
whitefish according to district, the most productive areas of the earlier years seem to be
in general the best areas of recent years. This conclusion is supported by the following
comparison of regions of the lake:
Northern Late Michigan (M-l, M-2, M-3, M-4)
Central Lake Michigan (M-5)
Southern Like Michigan (M-6, M-7, M-8)
-
Area
Percentage of total whitefieh production
mi-lSOS 19Í9-Í9Í9
81 4 73.2
12.« 13.6
6.7 13.2