Bar/left. — Decrease of Coarse FisJi 199 



vation of natural resources, and of them all fish, it seems to 

 me, is one of the most important. 



DISCUSSION 



Dr. S. P. Babtlett : The proposition advanced is a simple one 

 and applicable, so far as I know, only to the state of Illinois, and my 

 purpose in offering the paper at all was rather to provoke discussion 

 and ascertain, if possible, by that discussion whether other states are 

 situated similarly to Illinois. The Illinois River for years has been 

 noted for its great productiveness of coarse fish. Now, when I talk 

 about coarse fish. I mean that in 1860 the output of buffalo along that 

 river was in the millions of pounds. In 1880 the output of buffalo 

 along the Illinois River had been reduced to about 1,000,000 pounds. 

 The introduction of carp sent those figures up to 22,000,000 pounds of 

 coarse fish in 1896. In the last five years the output of carp from the 

 Illinois River has been reduced nearly 60 per cent. Now, there is a 

 cause for that, and that cause until lately I had attributed alone to 

 the fact of their taking in so much of the Illinois River, which is 250 

 miles in length with about five to six miles bottom on both sides, prac- 

 tically interwoven with nice beautiful lakes for its full length. All of 

 these lakes and all of these flat places provided excellent breeding 

 grounds for the carp. 



Within the last eight or ten years a gradual encroachment upon 

 these breeding ponds lias been made by what is known as levee districts, 

 until probably all but about 20 per cent of that entire district is taken 

 up in these levee districts; that is to say, they are reclaiming the land 

 and using it for farming purposes. The reasons for that I give in my 

 paper, but that is immaterial in getting at the point I wish to reach. 

 The point I want to make is that within the next ten years the Illinois 

 River, probably the greatest coarse fish producing stream in the United 

 States today, will be practically depleted of its breeding grounds on 

 account of the encroachment of these levee districts, which will cut 

 them off entirely. Now what I want to plead for at the next or some 

 future session of the legislature is that the state should own and control 

 enough land, keeping it outside of levee districts, to make public parks 

 or preserves for the purpose of furnishing a supply of coarse fish for 

 the Illinois River, thus preserving what will soon be depleted. This 

 paper is not intended to educate anybody, but simply to give the con- 

 ditions now prevalent along that river, and to ascertain, if possible, 

 whether other states of the union have such a thing as a state preserve. 



We have now large bodies of water along the Illinois River that 

 are owned practically by hunting and fishing clubs. There are half a 

 dozen of them on which a large amount of money has been expended 

 for the benefit of these clubs. 



Under a late decision of our Supreme Court they have made all 

 waters that can be traversed by a launch for commercial purposes, 

 navigable streams, and on such the fishermen are at liberty to go without 



