632 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



even 3 cents per pound, a price ten times as great as that of the spring. 

 Many of the owners of carp in ponds and pens wait onl}' for the market 

 to reach 2 cents per pound, and then fish their ponds and sell the fish. 

 If we market our 45 tons at this moderate price, they now bring 

 us the sum of $1^800, in comparison with which their original value 

 was insignificant. 



It is needless to sa}^ that not all who make this venture are so suc- 

 cessful. From inexperience or ignorance of the conditions required 

 some of the ponds are very unfit for carp, and the mortality is much 

 greater than we have estimated above. Or in some cases, especially in 

 the pens, the fish have no natural food, and they can be maintained in 

 good condition only by feeding them artificiall}'. The cost of this 

 must, of course, be deducted from the profits, and may amount to a 

 considerable item. Furthermore, the initial cost of constructing a 

 pond ma}^ constitute a relatively large investment, and account nuist 

 be made also of the necessary labor to maintain it and to care for the 

 fish. All these items vary greatly with local conditions, for whereas 

 a pond may be constructed and operated very economically in one 

 locality, in another place it may prove very expensive. Certain it is, 

 however, that small ponds are each year proving an acceptable source 

 of subsidiary income to many farmers whose land is favorably located, 

 while individual fishermen and fishing companies are yearly going into 

 this business of holding over carp on a more and more extensive scale. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



As was stated in the introductorj^ remarks at the beginning of this 

 report, the main purpose of the investigation was to determine, if 

 possible, whether the introduction of the carp into the United States 

 had proved a benefit to the country or whether the fish had turned out 

 to be so detrimental to the C-^heries and other interests that it must be 

 considered as a nuisance. In other words, have the twenty- five years 

 or more that the carp has lived in our waters, and in which it has 

 increased to such a surprising extent, justified the belief of those who 

 were instrumental in its introduction that it would fill a place in the 

 economics of our fisheries that could not be taken by any of our native 

 fish; that it could, with little trouble and at small expense, be artifi- 

 cially raised in ponds and other small bodies of water unsuitable for 

 the culture of any equally desirable native species, thus affording a 

 cheap and ready supply of fresh fish to many who would otherwise be 

 unable to have any fish at all; and finally that it would populate such 

 of our lakes and streams as were unfavorable for inhal)itation by finer 

 species, and contained onlj' buffalo, suckers, and the like ? " 



a The good qualities claimed for the carp, which led to its introduction, will be found enumerated 

 on page 544. 



