CIS BJBPOBT OF THE COMMISSIONER <>k FISHERIES. 



In the summer of L901 I myself visited all the principal fish dealers 

 (in Lake Erie, and made as accurate an estimate as possible of the 

 extent of the carp fishery for the calendar year L900. A number of 

 EaotorB prevent great accuracy in such an inquiry; for example: (a) 



Some dealers keep no record whatever of the carp handled by them; 



(b) others keep record only of their own catch, not recording those 

 bought by them from fishermen; (c) in some cases the carp are weighed 

 in and Sold with tin 1 suckers, and (//) it sometimes happens in the 

 Spring that carp come in faster than they can he handled, when the 

 surplus i^ weighed up with the refuse, and sent to the fertilizer fac- 

 tories. In spite of this, however, it is felt that the following- statistics 

 gives fair estimate o\' the total amount of carp shipped from Lake 

 Erie in L900: 



rounds. 



Detroit, ^1 ich 300, 000 



Monroe, Mich 14,000 



Toledo, Ohio 432, 548 



Port Clinton, Ohio 2,361,723 



Sandusky, ( >hio 1, 260, 817 



rotal for western end of lake 4,369,088 



1 1 axon, Ohio 14, 168 



Vermilion, < >hio 3, 561 



i orain, Ohio 20,773 



Cleveland, Ohio 16, (XX) 



Ishtabula, Ohio 2, 500 



Trio. Pa 12.000 



Buffalo, xv i60,ooo 



rotal for eastern end of lake 229. 002 



Total for lake 4, 598, 090 



The price paid to fishermen for carp varies from about 30 cents per 



100 pounds in the spring months to 2$ cents per pound in the winter. 

 Taking i\ cents per pound as a fair average, the value of the carp 

 catch o\ L 900 would be 168,971.85. This is an increase of 964,: 



pounds over the catch of 1899, and an increase of valuation of over 

 | . .opo. As nearly as could be judged at the time, the catch for 1901 

 promised to be about as much larger than that of 1900. No accurate 

 statistics have been gathered since that time, but the fishermen say 

 that the fishery is still increasing. 



The number of pounds of carp taken in Lake Erie in 1S90 equaled 

 nearly one-sixteenth of the total catch of fish of all kinds in the lake 

 for that year, while the value was about one twentv-second of the 

 entire fisheries product. 



In the Mississippi River and the streams tributary to it. especially 



in the Illinois River, the carp fisheries are of far greater comparative 



importance, and for several years carp have constituted over one-half 



the total yield of the fisheries of the last-named stream (Townsend. 



