Since our last report Capt. Alex. Brown, master of steamer 

 "Lotus" for so many years, has passed away. Captain Brown 

 was commissioned by Governor Fifer as Fish Warden, and in 

 that capacity did much, with the use of the steamer, to clear 

 the Illinois river of its unlawful obstructions. He was a faithful 

 officer, havino- the interest ot the Commission and its work at 

 heart, and fearless in the discharge of his duties. He literally 

 died on his feet, his indomitable will power having kept him 

 alive and Mt work lont»- after his disease had been pronounced 

 ho{)eless. Courteous, gentle as a woman, yet as fearless as a 

 brave man should be. respected by every one who came in con- 

 tact with him, he gave to the Commission and the work such 

 service as to make his loss deeply felt. During the high water 

 and floods of 1892, and consequent breaks in the levees. Gov- 

 ernor Fifer ordered the boat into the relief service, and it was 

 engaged in such service on both Illinois and Mississippi rivers. 



FISH PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATIONS. 



The Fish Protective Associations have been doing great work. 

 They have done much to secure a local protection for fish, and, 

 in a large number of instances, have been of great assistance 

 to the Commissio ers and Wardens in this work. A growing 

 interest in the pi pagation and protection of fish results from 

 the formation o*" such organizations, and the education of the 

 peo])le to the n cessity of the observance and enforcement of 

 existing laws fo lows as a certainty. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 



We would respectfully recommend that the existing laws be so 

 codified as to make them comprehensive and capable of inter- 

 pretation b}'^ all courts with some degree of similarity, and with 

 such amendments as to make it possible to enforce them by 

 making and defining the duty of the officers, who shall be desig- 

 nated to enforce them. As the law now stands, men must be 

 caught in the act of taking and killing fish before prosecution 

 can be successfully made. The possession of illegal appliances 

 should be, in itself, when clearly proven, cause for conviction. 

 Under the present laws a net or seine or other obstruction may 

 be so placed as to wholly close up a slough, which ma,v be the 

 natural outlet to a body of water covering thousands of acres, 

 into which the fish go from the rivers with the rising waters. 

 As the water recedes and is drawn down towards the river it 

 will bring every fish in these large bodies of water into the net. 

 These nets are frequently found by the wardens shutting off the 

 sloughs in this way. The power of the wardens ceases when 

 they have removed them, unless they can prove the ownership, 

 which is always difficult to do. Frequently large numbers of 

 fyke nets, with long leads and wings, are found obstructing the 

 rivers themselves. Our power ceases wuth their removal. The 



