15 



THE USE OF SEINE. 



At the last session of the General Assembly a great eflPort was 

 made to enact a law to prevent the use of the seine in any of the 

 waters of the State, of any sized mesh. While it is unlawful to use 

 a seine or net in most of the streams of the State, yet the Illinois 

 river has been made an exception. 



Section one of the law is as follows: 



Section 1. Be it enacted by the People 0/ the State of Illinois, represented 

 in the General Assembly: That no person or persons shall place or cause to 

 be placed or erected, any seine, weir, net, fish, dam or other obstruction in 

 or across any of the rivers, creeks, ponds, streams, lakes, sloughs, bayous, 

 or other water or water courses within the jurisdiction of this State, in such 

 a manner as will obstruct the free passage of fish up and down and through 

 such water or water courses, and it shall be unlawful for any person to catch 

 or take fish, except minnows for bait, with any device or means other than 

 hook and line, within one-half mile of any dam constructed across any of the 

 rivers or creeks or other water courses within the jurisdiction of this State. 



That it shall be unlawful for any person or persons, at any time, to catch 

 or kill any fish in any of the rivers, creeks, ponds, lakes, sloughs, bayous or 

 other water courses within the jurisdiction of this State, by the use of lime, 

 spear, acid, medical or chemical compound or explosives. 



That it shall be unlawful for any person to catch or kill any fish in or upon 

 any of the lakes or rivers within the jurisdiction of this State with any device 

 or means when such waters are covered with ice. 



That it shall be unlawful for any person to catch or kill or attempt to catch 

 or kill any fish with any trammel net, seine or other devices and as a seine 

 in or upon any of the rivers, creeks, streams, ponds, lakes, sloughs, bayous 

 or other water courses within the jurisdiction of this State. Nor shall the 

 meshes of any weir, seine, basket or trap of any net or seine used for catch- 

 ing fish, except for catching minnows for bait, be less than two inches 

 square. 



Provided, however, that seining shall be lawful and allowed between the first 

 day of July in each year, and the fifteenth day of April the following year, 

 with seines, the meshes of which shall not be less than two inches square, in 

 such rivers or streams as are used for navigation within the jurisdiction of 

 this State, and also in the navigable bays or lakes connected with such navi- 

 gable streams within the jurisdiction of this State, and not extending beyond 

 the overflowed bottoms of such rivers or streams: Provided, also, that it shall 

 be lawful for the fish commissioners or persons authorized by them to take 

 fish in any way, at any time and in any such places, as they deem best for 

 the purpose of propagation, distribution or destroying of objectionable fish. 



From facts they have been able to gain the commissioners believed 

 it to be a necessity, that is, if the commercial phase of the question 

 was to be considered. A glance at the table of fish taken on the Illi- 

 nois river will show a very small percentage of anything other than 

 coarse fish, also that a very large number of these coarse fish have 

 been taken, and that each season shows a decided increase in the 

 output. As before stated, carp particularly have increased to such 

 an extent that if not taken out they would soon, by their rapid in- 

 crease in numbers, crowd out all gamier fishes, and while this is true 

 of the Illinois river and its adjacent lakes, it is becoming so of a 

 large number of inland lakes as well. There is only one method of 

 getting out the carp in suflScient quantities to be effective, and that 

 is by the use of a seine. To entirely abolish the use of seines would 

 be a mistake in more ways than one, as it would destroy, to a certain 



