102 Thirty-Third Annual Meeting 
carp along the St. Clair River and on the shores of Lake St. 
Clair, and in a portion of Detroit River which borders on the 
state of Michigan. I have taken occasion this summer to inquire 
of the carp fishermen as to what they have found, and more par- 
ticularly with regard to what effect the German carp has had on 
the spawning beds of the small mouth bass. Along the shores of 
Lake St. Clair are probably as many spawning beds of the black 
bass as can be found anywhere. The gentleman who has done 
the most of the seining for carp told me that there were so few 
carp in and around the black bass spawning beds that he did not 
think it was worth while to run a seine there. Now I have not 
investigated it, gentlemen, to see whether that is true or not, 
but I know the man and he is a straight-forward, truth telling 
man. 
It is true that there were some small fishermen who took ad- 
vantage of the law and they would run their seines along the 
black bass beds for the purpose of seining the male bass guarding 
the beds, but they were few in number; and so far as I know 
(and I think the game wardens will bear me out in so saying) 
the carp fishermen in seining for their fish for the eastern market 
do not go where the black bass congregate, and that would lead 
me to believe that the carp are not particularly destructive of 
the black bass. 
Something has been said about the formation of fish com- 
missions. I have for a long time been personally of the belief 
that the consolidation of the work of a fish, forest and game 
commission is a natural one. As our lands are denuded of the 
forests we all know that the streams become affected, and it seems 
to me that the officer or board having charge of these matters is 
naturally very closely allied to and connected with the officer or 
board which has charge of the propagation of fish, and ought to 
have charge of the enforcement of the laws for their protection ; 
and while it is not the case in the state of Michigan it has 
seemed to me that that was the logical, natural way, Mr. Presi- 
dent. The three members of the commission meet about twice 
a month, after having first selected, as we think, as good a man 
for superintendent as can be found anywhere; and when we get 
together we ask him what ought to be done for the next two 
weeks or a month as the case may be. He tells us what ought to 
