Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1922-02-16
-ur CARP EvIcrs NATIVE FISH.

THE CARP EvIcrs NATIVE FISH
,-,-,on with other things Amer
IL .bs true. gamey, native American
=, -. being crowded out OF American
So The invader and suppianter
c,ro II is now one Of the most
So, FISH in American lakes and
US Us 1t is steadily usurpins all the
~, Grounds and in a comparatively
49,, time the native American species,
s,est fish in the world, will be
hing of the past.
The carp question has commercial
.,.;sI side which prevents suita-
:, ,,,;on for the defense of American
-. The carp is favorite OF certain
communities where large quantities are
..r,,ed. and defenders Of American
-. acainst this invader have been
-, n discover that they are not
.aa,,o with a fish question at all, but
;.b racial question, full of danger
,oin,s and fraught with animosity.-
Dearborn independent,
The carp is generally known as the
German carp" and has been regard
., as = native of Europe and Germany
esrecially. This, however, is not true.
& The earn is really a native of China
here il is found in profusion. Three
hundred wears ago it was first brought
- GERMANY and there reared in ponds.
\ Hence il gained the name of German
4 earn. which it retains in this country.
That the carp should have been in
n ,-o3uced into this country is marvel,
,or there was absolutely no necessity
4 lor bringing il here. Our waters teem-
s a with fish of all sorts and varieties.
However, foresight was lacking and so
4 the fish was wished upon us like the
3 English sparrow, the Norway rat, the
4 Johnson grass and the Hessian fly.
n The first specimens of the German carp
are said to have been brought into
8 This country by Robert A. Poppy in
the wear 1878. There are those who
s aver that the first carp we're brought
10 America from France in 1881 by
3 Henry Robinson,of Newburg, Orange
i County, New York, and that they were
4 planted in the Hudson River and -four
! ished there At any event, they were
!. introduced: and then the fun began.
( In 1875 the Fish Commission of the
4 United States undertook the propaga-
ton of the carp. The spawn was dis
! tributed free to all corners. 1t was not
4 long before a carp craze swept the
country. This miserable foreigner fish
( would thrive in the most disgusting
i sewer hole. If farmer had a duck
q pond filled with drainage,or a reeking
8 mud-sink in his back yard he conceived
! the bright idea of planting it with carp.
4 Every available ditch was stocked. In
] the prairie country the carp met with
4 wide acclaim and lakes and streams
4 that had never known fish life of any
great value were planted. BY the year
1885 the streams of nearly the whole
Pacific Coast of the United States were
stocked and later overrun with carp.
10 say that today the carp owns the
waters of the United States is to say
the very least. A female carp Of about
seventeen pounds may carry as high
as 2OOOoOO eggs. David Starr Jordan
states that something like 100000 eggs
nave been taken from one of the spe-
cieS' A five-pound carp will produce
ABOUT oo'Ooo eggs. In the face of this
stupendous increase going on undated
is wonder that our native fish life
mas not been entirely wiped out of ex-
's.ehce; but that it is speedily passing
all anglers know to their sorrow.
Nothing is done for the reason that
Foueh fish" give impetus to our inter-
nd commercial fisheries; the control Of
many OF these fisheries being distinct
~ OF a racial character. Only certain
people eat such fish as the earn. the
quicker and the red horse, indeed thew
e''eem them as delicacies. Anyone
visiting the fish markets in the East
que OF New York City knows this.
10 see the hundreds of thousands Of
Sa'p there being handled and alb
"Oea aaIly is to realize more fully
.'e meaning of it. Carp and other
'Vueh hsh are to certain types of peo.
;no "S ue"F as life itself. We are Civ
:. ny over our beautiful waters, permit