Letter of Transmittal.

HON. THOMAS R. MARSHALL, Governor of Indiana:

I have the honor to present to you herewith my report as Commissioner of Fisheries and Game covering the fiscal years of 1911 and 1912.

Report of Commissioner of Fisheries and Game.

Besides the hundreds of beautiful lakes in the northern counties of Indiana, the State has, as is shown elsewhere in this report, exclusive of the Ohio River, nearly four thousand miles of rivers and creeks suitable for rearing fish--an average of forty miles to the county. There is scarcely a citizen of the State who can not find a place where he may enjoy the pleasure of fishing and secure an occasional mess of fish for his table within easy distance of his home. The importance of conserving and increasing the fish in all these lakes and streams can hardly be overestimated.

But if the importance of conserving the fish of our waters is great, that of conserving the birds and other wild life of our fields and woodlands is greater. Indeed, it is asserted by entomologists that without the aid of birds successful agriculture in this country would be impossible on account of insect pests, the annual loss from which in the whole country at the present time they estimate to be $700,000,000.

The funds available has enabled this department, during the past two years, to employ from twenty-eight to thirty wardens, all of whom are paid regular salaries. They were instructed that their duty was to conserve the wild life of the State, and that every official act they performed, and every prosecution they brought, must be solely for the accomplishment of that purpose. They have followed this instruction faithfully, and the educational effect of their work has been most valuable. Never in the history of this department have the people given it as strong moral support as they are giving it now.

But thirty men in the State are less than one to three counties, and it is obvious that the laws can not be enforced as they ought to be with so small a number. We ought to have a larger force, and I hope that in the near future we may have.

Besides, now that protection of our lakes and streams has become fairly effective, we ought to engage actively in the propagation of fish with which to replenish them. Two years ago the Legislature repealed the provision in the law that compelled me to spend a portion of the revenues of this department for the purchase of quail or other game birds, and gave me the alternative of using it for fish propagation. This has enabled us to make a beginning, and three State bass hatcheries are now in operation. Besides this, it has enabled me to give financial assistance to several clubs in the State that are maintaining hatcheries. Out of all these more than two hundred thousand fingerling bass have this year been reared and planted in the lakes and streams of the State. But our funds are insufficient to enable us to engage in this work as we ought to do.

In my report to the Legislature two years ago I said: "The funds with which this commission is now supported come almost wholly from hunters, yet we are spending probably more than half of them for the benefit of the fishermen in the protection of our lakes and streams. It would be manifestly unfair to expend still more of them in the propagation of fish. Nor is the amount of them yet sufficient to enable us to give that protection to our fish, game and birds that ought to be given. But if those who do not hunt, but who annually go out into the country to fish and there enjoy the benefits of the money we are spending to make the fishing good for them, were compelled to add each a dollar to these funds, I believe that money enough would be provided annually to restock in a satisfactory manner all our good streams and lakes, and to give them effectual protection. Nor do I believe that it will be necessary to place a tax on those who fish only in the vicinity of their homes, nor on women nor children, in order to provide funds sufficient for the work."

And to that Legislature I made the following recommendation: "I therefore recommend that the hunting license law be amended so that the license issued shall be for hunting and fishing, instead of hunting only, and that no person be permitted to fish in Indiana outside the county in which he resides without first providing himself with such a license, exempting children under

eighteen years of age, and women in so far as they can be legally exempted, and that the Commissioner of Fisheries and Game be required to expend a portion of the funds thus produced for the propagation of fish as well as for purchasing game birds or animals with which to stock the State."

I am convinced that it

I here repeat that recommendation. will work no hardships, that it will be altogether fair, and that it will meet the approval of nearly all the fishermen who will be required to take out the licenses. And I believe it will give to this department money to do its work in a fairly efficient manner and keep it, as it now is, on a self-sustaining basis.

The provision in the law that permits one to hunt rabbits in the township in which he lives ought to be abolished. There is no equitable reason for it, and its existence makes the enforcement of the law extremely difficult for the wardens, who can not know the places of residence of those they find hunting without licenses nor the location of township lines.

The section of the game law creating a closed season for all game except water birds during October, intended to protect quails during that month, should be repealed, and instead of it a closed season should be created beginning January 1 and extending over the period of snows and coldest weather. It is at this season, when they can easily be tracked in the snow, that quails need protection against pot hunters and lawless persons.

Rabbits are the game of the humbler sportsmen and the boys, and they should have some protection. It is charged against them. that, when snow lies deep and they can not get other food, they gnaw the bark of and injure young orchard trees; but it is a very simple matter to wrap each tree with a handful of straw or an old newspaper, and thus protect them. Again I urge that hunting rabbits with ferrets be prohibited.

I can not do more than repeat here my recommendations to the last Legislature regarding desired changes in the laws for the protection of fish as follows: "Adjoining many of the lakes of the State are shallows and bays wherein grow water-lilies, cattails and other water plants. These shallows and bays are the natural breeding grounds of the large-mouthed bass. With the first warm

days after the ice leaves the lakes, into them, from all the open waters, gather the bass, seeking the warmth of the sun. Ravenous from their long winter fasting, they will grab at any sort of bait thrown among them, and it is easy to take them in large numbers by casting.

"I recommend that the Commissioner of Fisheries and Game be empowered to set apart all such breeding grounds and mark them with appropriate signs similar to those used for marking game preserves, and that after they be so set apart, it be made unlawful to fish within them during the spawning and breeding season. If this be done, and if for the stocking of the streams and lakes that do not have such breeding grounds we shall rear young fish in hatcheries and brooderies, I do not believe any other closed season will be necessary.

"Of late years there has been much complaint in all the lake region of the State of the taking in excessive numbers of bluegills, which are there considered one of our best varieties of game fish, by means of trot lines and floating devices, that has grown to be a very considerable evil, and there is a strong and reasonable demand that it be stopped. Formerly trot lines were used principally for the taking of bullheads or catfish, which is not objectionable and ought not to be prohibited. But for taking catfish a rather large sized hook is best, while for bluegills a small one must be used. I therefore recommend that it be made unlawful to fish with any trot line or other set line having on it any hook smaller than what is commonly known as a number 6-0 Kirby.

"No restrictions on hook and line fishing in the winter, when the waters are covered with ice, are necessary, for then fish feed very little, and there is the least harm done to the lakes and streams by angling for them."

I would also recommend that the number of bass that may be legally taken in a day be further limited to twelve for one person, and to twenty for a party of two or more fishing from the same boat.

The last Legislature enacted a law for the protection of our fur-bearing animals, creating a closed season during which it is unlawful to taken them. It is a good law and is very generally