16 THE REPORT OF THE No. 31 



The Work of Capturing and Destroying Coarse Fish in the Nepigon. 



« 



The work of capturing and destroying coarse fish in the River Nepigon 

 was again prosecuted; 7,632 pike, 2,282 suckers, 228 pickerel (or dore), and 

 145 whitefish were destroyed and otherwise disposed of. The work was all 

 done within a period of six weeks, which gives an idea of the extent to which 

 these fish have multiplied in the Nepigon, and what a menance they are 

 becoming to the trout of that famous river. 



The Carp. 



The popular prejudice against the carp — a prejudice which has arisen 

 because of its injury to other and finer species of fish, their spawn and young, 

 and to the feeding grounds of the wild duck, increases as its destructive- 

 ness and depredations become more generally and widely known. 



It is in the waters of Lakes Erie and St. Clair that it has multiplied and 

 grown most rapidly, and is to be found in greatest numbers in this Province. 

 But it is by no means confined to these lakes, for we find it in considerable 

 numbers in the cold, deep waters of the Georgian Bay, the North Channel 

 and Lake Huron, Lake Superior seeming not yet to have been invaded. 



As an example of the prolificness of the carp, it may be said that one 

 weighing 4 or 5 lbs. will contain on an average from 400,000 to 500,000 

 ova; one of 9 lbs. 600,000; and from one of 16| lbs. the amazing number 

 of 2,059,750 eggs have been taken. A genius for mathematics has figured 

 it out thus : If from the eggs of a carp weighing 4 or 5 lbs. two fish survive, 

 from one million carp (half of them being females) the increase the first 

 year would be one million fish; for the first five years (on the compound 

 interest system) 64 million; for ten years 2,048,000,000; for fifteen years 

 18,384,000,000; and for twenty years 1,181,276,000,000. 



The carp is a marvel of longevity. The New International Encyclo- 

 paedia (1902) states that it "mav reach an age of 200 years;" and as for its 

 vitality, Norris, in "The American Angler's Book," new edition, (a work 

 of 700 pages) in the chapter "General Remarks on Fish" makes the almost 

 incredible statement (page 48) that "it is an established fact that in drain- 

 ing carp ponds in Germany to cultivate the soil which had been flooded and 

 made a fish pond of for the purpose of enriching it, the spawn of the Carp 

 left after drawing off the water does not lose its vitality though exp_osed for 

 two or three years to the heat of summer and frost of winter; and that when 

 the field is again converted into a pond there is no necessity for restocking 

 it with carp, but the ova remaining beneath the surface of the ground pro- 

 duces a stock of carp, thus keeping up an alternation of crops — fish and vege- 

 tables." 



The editor of Forest and Stream in a recent article said : "In the Great 

 Lakes it is in the very nature of the case a matter of international concern, 

 and it is a concern which every year is becoming more serious, as the fish 



multiplies in its old haunts and finds its way into new waters 



The carp is here, and it is here to stay. To extirpate it from connecting 

 water courses is something which may safely be counted as beyond the ingen- 

 uity of man." 



In Illinois there is a small lake into which the carp had found its way. 

 The lake had once been famous for its game fish, and the work of ridding 

 it of these "scavengers" was begun, but after more than 40,000 pounds had 

 been taken the effort was abandoned as hopeless. 



While therefore it would appear to be impossible to exterminate the 

 carp from waters in which it has already become established, it is not too 



