526 EEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



Probabl}'' the two regions in the United States where carp are 

 found most abundantly are al^out the western end of Lake Erie and in 

 the Illinois Kiver and its tributaries. This investigation was begun, 

 however, at Lake St, Clair, this localit}^ being chosen because of such 

 complaints as the following, which appeared in a Port Huron paper: 



risn IN LAKE ST. CLAIK THE CARP ARE RAPIDLY DEBTROYING ALL THE OTHER KINDS. 



G B , an old fisherman, who has pUed liis 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 fish in 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 the}" 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 the}^ are usualh" 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, especiailj' at the 

 upper end. During the last week in August all of the important 

 wholesale fish houses on the w^est and south sides of Lake Erie, from 

 Detroit to Buffalo, w^ere visited to obtain figures as to the magnitude 

 and value of the carp fisheries of the lake. In Novemlier, 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 luitil after the 

 1st 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, 

 especiall}^ at Port Clinton and at Sandusky, During the last season 

 of the investigations, in the summer of 1903, \\'ith headquarters in 

 Sandusky, the w^ork was conducted for a1)out three weeks, during the 

 spaw^ning season of the carp, most of the time from a camp in the 

 marsh, some 20 miles above the city, near where the Sandusky Kiver 

 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 such a 

 short time, several special problems were kept in mind. Thus a study 



