nois river, and the fishermen report large catx-hes from the 

 river it-self, very often. These are the product of the planting, 

 by the Commission, of carp furnished us by the T'. S. Fish Com- 

 mission, in the public waters of the State, a report of which 

 plant, with list of streams planted, was published in a former 

 report. y 



At our ponds at Centralia we have a large supply of young 

 and mature carp, which will be turned into puljlic waters, after 

 applicants are supplied. 



Many applicants throughout the State have Vjeen liberally 

 supplied by the U. S. Fish Commission direct, besides those who 

 have been supplied by the State Commission. 



ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAWS. 



The most knotty problem the Commissioners have had to solve 

 has been how to enforce the existing laws relating to the pro- 

 tection of the fish. True, as each year passes, the public senti- 

 ment is growing in favor of a better enforcement of these laws, 

 and a large number of clubs have been organized with that 

 purpose in view. The appointment of fish wardens has also 

 been of great help, but with all these aids, the law has been 

 openly and flagrantl.y violated in almost every part of the 

 State. The Illinois river, with its tributaries, which has no 

 superior in the State, or indeed in any of the states, has. for 

 this very reason, been the scene of the greatest amount of illegal 

 fishing. 



For several seasons past it has been carried on to such an 

 extent that even the fishermen themselves remonstrated, and the 

 Commissioners, finding that the}' could not depend upon local as- 

 sistance to stop these violations, concluded to take the matter 

 in hand, and bring to bear all of their resources to check the 

 wholesale violations, prevalent the entire length of the river. 

 Everywhere the river was filled with fike-nets, with wings from 

 fifty to one hundred feet in length, and in one instance, wings 

 and leads were seen one thousand feet long. In many places 

 only the channel of the river was open, all else being winged 

 off, leaving barely room for boats to run between the stakes. 



The Commissioners put into service the little steamer, '"Han- 

 nibal Eagle," and barge, which had been used by them for past 

 three years in towing live-boxes, etc., in gathering the young 

 native fish, and sent her fi*om Meredosia, where she had been 

 laid up over winter, to Pekin, 111., where Fish Wardens -lames 

 Haines and' George Ayers took charge of her, and the work of 

 taking up the nets was begun. A few days" work with the 

 boat demonstrated the fact that she was too small for such 

 work, as two or three nets would constitute a load for her. 

 So, after a trip to LaSalle, warning all fishermen to take up 

 nets, Messrs. George E. Cole, President, and Henry Hertz, of the 

 Fox River Fish and Game Association, were taken on board, and 

 the boat returned to Peoria. Here, upon consultation, and after 

 reviewing the work done, and that necessary to be done, it was 



