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John Van Oosten

Publications and source records attributed to John Van Oosten.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS1946

The whitefish fishery of Lakes Huron and Michigan with special reference to the deep-trap-net fishery

This study of the whitefish fishery of Lakes Huron and Michigan includes: (1) a review of the available statistics of production, 1879-1942; (2) a detailed analysis of the annual fluctuations in the production and abundance of whitefish and in the intensity of the whitefish fishery in the State of Michigan waters of the lakes, 1929-1942, with special reference to the effects of fishing with deep trap nets; (3) an account of the bathymetric distribution and vertical movements of whitefish and certain other species; and (4) a report of field observations made in 1931 and 1932, as related particularly to the destruction of undersized whitefish by pound nets and deep trap nets. The main body of the manuscript and appendices A, B, and C, completed in March 1942, contain statistics through the year 1939. Since that time, records for the years 1940-1942 have become available. Because these additional data did not alter any of the conclusions of the manuscript but actually strengthened them, it was not deemed justifiable to expend the considerable amount of time and money that would be required to revise the study. The 1940-1942 records are therefore presented in appendix D. From a relatively high production in the earlier years of the period, 1879 to 1942, the yield of whitefish declined to a lower level about which the catch fluctuated until the late 1920's and early 1930's when a general increase in production occurred. This recent increase was higher and the subsequent decline more severe in the Michigan waters of Lake Huron than in other areas.

Lake Huron, Lake Michigan↗
USGS1943

Report of the International Board of Inquiry for the Great Lakes Fisheries

This is the report of the International Board of Inquiry relative to the preservation and development of the Great Lakes fisheries as provided by an exchange of notes between Canada and the United States on February 29, 1940. The report aims to present in a very brief manner the background of the establishment of the Board, its program, and the fishery problems that confronted it with particular reference to the international point of view. These problems relate to the following subjects: statistics, the take of fish, fluctuations in the take, development and decline of particular fisheries, extinction and introduction of species, migration and local stock of fish, variety and changes in water conditions, fishing gear, overfishing, sport fishing versus food fish, fish culture and investigations. There is also a supplemental report prepared by the United States members of the Board (see Contribution #101).

Report↗
USGS1943

Supplemental report of the United States members of the International Board of Inquiry for the Great Lakes fisheries

This is a supplement to the report of the International Board of Inquiry relative to the preservation and development of the Great Lakes fisheries as provided by an exchange of notes between Canada and the United States on February 29, 1940. The report aimed to present in a very brief manner the background of the establishment of the Board, its program, and the fishery problems that confronted it with particular reference to the international point of view. (See Contribution #100.) The Board, however, recognized the significance and import of those problems and data more or less peculiar or applicable largely to each country. It was, therefore, agreed that the representatives of each country should, if they deem it desirable, submit to their respective governments a supplementary report to cover the basis of action in greater detail than it was possible in a joint report. The United States members believed it advisable not only to publish detailed statistics of catch, but also other information deemed pertinent for a full understanding of the Great Lakes fishery problems from the United States point of view.

Report↗
USGS1942

Relationship between plantings of fry and production of whitefish in Lake Erie

An attempt was made to substantiate the repeated assertions of the commercial fishermen on the Great Lakes and of others that there was a direct causal relationship between the plantings of whitefish fry and subsequent catch. The records of whitefish fry plantings in Lake Erie during the years, 1920–1937, were correlated with those of catch during the period, 1923–1940. No causal relationship could be demonstrated between the two sets of data. Whitefish production in Lake Erie is not dependent on or noticeably affected by the planting of fry.

Transactions of the American Fisheries Society↗
USGS1942

The Great Lakes whitefish

In every one of the Great Lakes- Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior- the most valuable fishes are declining, and there is no evidence that this trend will be reversed. Under existing conditions of a diversity of regulations that vary between states and between the two countries, and with the present methods of fishing, the Great Lakes fisheries are doomed. This chapter deals with the common whitefish, a valuable species which many believe to be the next that will go unless positive action is forthcoming soon.

The Great Lakes↗
USGS1940

Tagging experiments with lake trout, whitefish, and other species of fish from Lake Michigan

A total of 2,902 Lake Michigan fish was tagged and released, 48.8 per cent of which were lake trout and 85 per cent lake trout, lake herring, and whitefish. A total of 388 fish or 13.4 per cent was recaptured. The percentages of returns indicated a tremendous fishing intensity for lake trout, whitefish, and sturgeon. About 81 per cent of the recaptured fish were retaken within a radius of 25 miles from the port of tagging (Port Washington, Wisconsin). Lake trout, rainbow trout, and sturgeon were found to be extensive travelers; lake herring, whitefish, chubs, pilots, and perhaps perch did not migrate so extensively. Lake trout, herring, and whitefish tended to move in a northerly direction, perch in a southerly, and rainbow trout in all easterly, toward the Michigan shore. Sturgeon apparently roam all over the lake. Fifty-three per cent of the recovered lake trout were recaptured within one year of release, 73 per cent within 25 miles from Port Washington. It required three years for the trout to become fairly well scattered throughout the lake. With the attainment of adulthood lake trout moved in all directions from the port of release, although nearly 50 per cent of the adults were retaken within 25 miles from this port. Fish moved across state boundaries. Data are given on the growth and estimated age of the tagged lake trout, rainbow trout, whitefish, and sturgeon. The minimum size limits of lake trout and whitefish on the Great Lakes are economically unsound–they are too low–because they permit the capture of these species at a time of most rapid increase in weight.

Transactions of the American Fisheries Society↗
USGS1939

The age, growth, and feeding habits of the whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis (Mitchell), of Lake Champlain

This study is based on 120 whitefish collected in northern Lake Champlain (Missisquoi Bay) in 1930 and on 175 whitefish taken in southern Lake Champlain in 1931. Since the whitefish population had not been exploited commercially after 1912 in United States waters and after 1915 in Canadian waters, its study should be of interest in showing the characteristics of a population practically untouched by man. Data have been presented on length frequencies, age composition, growth, coefficient of condition, sex ratio, standard length-total length relationship, and feeding habits. The data indicated that the Missisquoi Bay population was disturbed (probably by the early fall seining of 1930) before our samples were taken so that the original length distributions no longer existed. The southern Lake Champlain material, however, showed a consistency which indicated that the population had not been exploited to any extensive degree, if at all. When the northern population was compared with the southern the former was found to differ from the latter in the following respects, which differences pointed to some disturbance of the northern stock in the lake 1. By possession of lower modes and smaller grand averages of length. 2. By absence of very old individuals. 3. By absence of a series of equally abundant age groups or, in other words, by the presence of a decided dominance of one or two age groups. 4. By a radical disagreement between the sexes in their age-frequency distribution. 5. By a disagreement between the sexes with respect to maximum lengths attained. All of the differences between the two collections could, however, not be attributed to exploitation. The following characteristics indicated the presence of two distinct populations in the lake 1. Presence of a spawning ground at each end of the lake. 2. Differences in calculated lengths and increments of length (growth rates). 3. Differences in the actual lengths and weights of corresponding age groups at capture. 4. Differences in the coefficient of condition and the length-weight relationship. The discovery of the presence of apparently two separate populations of whitefish in Lake Champlain was wholly unexpected by us.

Transactions of the American Fisheries Society↗
USGS1939

Migratory fish, a problem of interstate cooperation?

Bobwhite quail chicks, when given a choice of balanced diets in which the essential difference was the protein supplement, showed preferences for one diet containing 49 per cent peanut oil meal, another containing a mixture of 9 per cent meat and bone scraps (50% protein) with 38 per cent soybean oil meal, and a third (control) diet containing a mixture of 16 per cent dried buttermilk with 42 per cent soybean oil meal, in contrast to diets containing sardine meal or menhaden fish meal. ....Feeding tests during the first five weeks of life showed that diets containing 14 per cent sardine fish meal consistently gave high live weights, low mortality, and high efficiency of feed utilization. Diets with 9 to 10 per cent menhaden meal produced nearly as good results....Live weights, survival, and efficiency of feed utilization were markedly better on a diet containing 9 per cent meat and bone scrap (50% protein) than on one with 9 per cent meat scrap (55% protein), but not as good as with diets containing fish meal without meat....The chicks grew and survived more successfully on diets containing either soybean oil meal or peanut oil meal as the sole protein supplement, than on diets containing either linseed oil meal, cottonseed oil meal, or dried buttermilk as the sole protein concentrate. None of these was as satisfactory as the diets containing fish meal.....All chicks died on diets containing either linseed oil meal, cottonseed oil meal, or dried buttermilk as the sole source of protein. All three of these concentrates, however, gave satisfactory results, when used as 10 per cent of the diet. In fact, survival and efficiency of feed utilization were nearly as good on a diet containing 10 per cent dried buttermilk, 10 per cent linseed oil meal, 10 per cent peanut oil meal, and 27 per cent soybean oil meal, as on diets containing fish meal.

Transactions of the North American Wildlife Confer↗