COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES.
The General Assembly, at its special session in 1881, enacted a law providing for an appointment by the Governor of a Commissioner of Fisheries Commissioners had previously been appointed, under provisions of law, in thirty-one States of the Union and two of the Territories. I appointed to the office a gentleman who had given much study to the habits of fishes and to their propagation, and had been specially successful in the cultivation of the carp. I invite your attention to the suggestions contained in his report. The law of 1881 seems to have been intended rather to set on foot an intelligent investigation into the best means of restoring our many fishing streams, and of preventing a renewal of the reprehensible practices by which they have been impoverished, than to provide an efficient plan for supplying these streams, or to prevent a wanton or thoughtless depopulation of them. The business of fishing, if our fishes were undisturbed in the spawning season would soon become a profitable industry, and would give employment to many citizens. A most wholesome and nutricious food would soon be made abundant. The temperature of our streams and lakes, and their purity, adapt them to a great variety of fishes. The black bass, which multiply so rapidly when their spawning grounds are undisturbed, that artificial propagation is never necessary, is native to our streams. The carp can be successfully and inexpensively cultivated. It has been described by Professor Baird, United States Fish Commission- er, as being emphatically a farmer's fish. On account of requiring little more care than his swine and poultry. If Indiana has lagged somewhere behind a majority of her sister States in providing for restocking her nearly numberless streams and the beautiful lakes which abound near her northern border, shall she not make up for time neglected by a prompt adoption of the best methods, by the passage of wise protective laws, and by a resolute spirit on the part of her inhabitants to secure their enforcement ?
