526 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
Probably the two regions in the United States where carp are 
found most abundantly are about the western end of Lake Erie and in 
the Ilinois River and its tributaries. This investigation was begun, 
however, at Lake St. Clair, this locality being chosen because of such 
complaints as the following, which appeared in a Port Huron paper: 
FISH IN LAKE St. CLAIR—THE CARP ARE RAPIDLY DESTROYING ALL THE OTHER KINDS. 
G B , an old fisherman, who has plied his trade on Lake St. Clair 
three miles above Mount Clemens for twenty-three years, says in three years more 
there will be no fish except carp left in the lake. The carp eats the spawn and 
destroys the perch, bass and other good fishin those waters, and the supply is 
already much reduced... Mr. B suggests that the government offer a bounty 
of 3 cents or so for the destruction of the carp in order to save the other fish. 
This particular paragraph is quoted because,it gave the starting 
point for the field work, and because it illustrates so well the general 
tone of complaint against the carp. The shallow bays of the delta 
occupying the upper fourth of Lake St. Clair afford an excellent place 
for carp—except that possibly the water averages a little cold for their 
most prolific development—and they are to be found there in consid- 
erable numbers. Furthermore, the usual comparative clearness of the 
water makes it easier at times to observe the fish than in the muddier 
waters in which they are usually found. When the carp are rooting 
about in the bottom for food, however, even clear water is made so 
roily that there is little chance to watch them. 
After about three weeks at the St. Clair Flats, the remainder of the 
summer, until August 31, was spent on Lake Erie, especially at the 
upper end. During the last week in August all of the important 
wholesale fish houses on the west and south sides of Lake Erie, from 
Detroit to Buffalo, were visited to obtain figures as to the magnitude 
and value of the carp fisheries of the lake. In November, 1901, about 
three weeks were spent on Lake Erie, principally at Port Clinton and 
Put-in Bay, in order to determine the relation of carp to the white- 
fish, which were in the height of their spawning season at this time. 
In 1902 it was not practicable to begin the field work until after the 
Ist of July. As before, Lake St. Clair was first visited, but the con- 
ditions there being unfavorable on account of heavy storms, which 
made the water roily, investigations were renewed on Lake Erie, 
especially at Port Clinton and at Sandusky. During the last season 
of the investigations, in the summer of 1903, with headquarters in 
Sandusky, the work was conducted for about three weeks, during the 
spawning season of the carp, most of the time from a camp in the 
marsh, some 20 miles above the city, near where the Sandusky River 
opens into the large bay of the same name. 
In addition to the observation of the general habits of the carp in 
waters where it has become adapted to a new environment in sucha 
short time, several special problems were kept in mind. Thus a study 
