616 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



The laws governing the taking of carp in Lake St. Clair are quoted 

 to show what can be done in cases of this kind to allow of the utiliza- 

 tion of the carp, to decrease their numbers, if that seems necessary, 

 and still to afford protection to the native fish, especially the game n\ :b, 

 such as the black bass. 



OTHER METHODS OF CAPTURE. 



The number of carp taken b} T other means is insignificant as com- 

 pared with that taken by seining — in fact, it is seldom that any other 

 kind of net is set exclusively for carp. Small numbers are taken more 

 or less regularly in the pound nets set in Lake Erie for saugers and 

 pickerel (wall-eyed pike) and for white-fish, as well as in the traps 

 and fyke nets set in the bays and rivers for other species of fish. A 

 few carp — mostly small ones — are obtained in the gill nets set for 

 white-fish about the Bass Islands in the fail. Occasionally when a 

 number of carp have entered some place where a net can be set across 

 their only way of escape, or where they can be driven into it, a gill 

 net is used. Thus if carp are frightened out of the rushes where they 

 are feeding they will usually make directly for deeper water. If a gill 

 net is set so as to intercept them many will rush into it and become 

 entangled; but they are such vigorous fish that unless the net is an 

 exceptionally strong one they are apt simply to tear it to pieces. I 

 believe trammel nets have been tried in the same way, but not w T ith 

 enough success to warrant their general use. 



PACKING AND SHIPMENT. 



The method of transportation of the fish to the fish houses has 

 already been mentioned (p. 611). The fishermen may dispose of them 

 immediately after they are caught, or they may keep them for a time 

 pending a rise in the market price. In the latter case the carp are 

 retained in pens or ponds as will be described later. The fish are 

 received at the wholesale houses often in a living condition, although 

 they may have come a distance of several miles packed a foot or two 

 deep in a wagon or boat. They are transferred from the boats to 

 boxes by means of short-handled dip nets, the iron frames of which 

 are usually straight on the side opposite the handle, a construction 

 which facilitates using them to take fish from the bottom of a boat. 

 The boxes are now slid inside the fish house and placed on the scales 

 where the fish are " weighed in," and are then dumped out in a pile on 

 the floor. Usually no record is made of the number of fish, but all 

 measurements are by weight. As soon as possible the fish are packed 

 into plain lumber shipping boxes of uniform size and especially made 

 for this purpose. A box is placed on the scales and chopped ice is 

 shoveled in until it tips a certain w T eight; a 150-pound weight is then 

 added, and carp are shoveled in until it is balanced. For handling the 



