170 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



have been taken for market in Lake Erie and other lakes and rivers of 

 the interior States, and the fish is now regularly exposed for sale and 

 usually cited in the market quotations in all the large cities. Tbe 

 decrease in the output of whitefish and lake herring in Lake Erie and 

 elsewhere has also had much to do with the rise of the carp as a 

 commercial fish. 



Of the many States in which the carp is now taken for home supply 

 and for market there are few in which the introduction of the fish has 

 been more successful or in which it has attained greater commercial 

 importance than in Illinois. The stocking of the streams and ponds 

 of that State was accomplished some years ago by the United States 

 Fish Commission in cooperation with the State commission of Illinois. 

 Tbe fish has rapidly propagated and distributed itself, and is now a 

 very important factor in the supply of fish food in the region, the 

 increase of the fish in the Illinois River being especially noteworthy. 

 The State fish commissioners in their report for 1890 refer to this fish 

 as follows : 



The success attending the introduction of carp-culture in Illinois can not be 

 estimated in dollars and cents, and has never been fairly placed before tbe people. 

 Adverse criticism has, in many instances, had the effect of creating an undue pre- 

 judice against the fish. Lack of care and ignorance as to the methods of culture 

 have done much more to cause the impression that carp are not profitable to raise. 

 Still, the facts are that a very large number of those who prepared ponds for their 

 reception, and gave them ordinary care, are successfully producing a profitable 

 supply of fish every year as food, and good food, at a comparatively trifling expense. 

 In addition to this, evidences are numerous to show that our streams are full of 

 these fish, and they are entering into the supply of food at almost every point where 

 fish are taken for market. Hundreds of very large carp have been taken this season 

 from the pools along the Illinois River, and the fishermen report very large catches 

 from the river itself very often. These are the product of the planting by the 

 commission of carp furnished by the United States Fish Commission, in the public 

 waters of the State, a report of which plant, with list of streams planted, was pub- 

 lished in a former report. 



The information at hand indicates that the Illinois River is perhaps 

 as well stocked with carp as any other stream in the United States. 

 Numerous instances might be cited of the wonderful multiplication of 

 the fish in the waters of the State, but a single reference to this river 

 will be sufficient to show the abundance of the fish and its commercial 

 importance. In August, 1893, Dr. S. P. Bartlett, field superintendent 

 of the United States Fish Commission, brought to the attention of the 

 office the following information: 



At Meredosia, 111., in Morgan County, a shallow lagoon G miles long 

 and three-quarters of a mile wide at the average stage of the water 

 communicates with the Illinois River. This lagoon is known as Mere- 

 dosia Bay. In this bay, on August 9, a fisherman using a 900-yard 

 seine caught 25,000 pounds of carp averaging 7 pounds apiece. Some 

 of the fish weighed 20 pounds. On August 17 the same fisherman 

 secured 12,000 pounds of carp in the same place. The fisherman 

 received from 7 to 10 cents per pound for the fish that weighed 7 pounds 



