664 



HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



THE SHAD-FISHERY. The shad-fisheries of the Connecticut are still of great importance, 

 though the number annually captured on this river by no means equals that taken on any of the 

 other principal rivers of the Atlantic coast, from which latter, however, we would expect no larger 

 yield than from the Connecticut River. 



The following tables, from the report for 1870 of the Connecticut commissioners, giving 

 statistics showing the annual catch of the fishery for a series of years at Griswold's Pier, at Lyme, 

 and of the fishery formerly known as the Parsonage Pier, are interesting, as they show the material 

 diminution which has gradually taken place at these fisheries. 



Griswold's Pier, Lyme. 



The books of this pier are lost from 1847 to 1851 ; also from 1851 to 1854. 

 For one or two y ears previous to 1845 the average catch was 12,000 per year. 

 Mr. Griswold writes that for the last three years he lost money, and was obliged to abandon 

 this fishery. 



Fiehery knaum as the Parsonage Pier. 



No account of the number of shad taken in the pounds is given, as no satisfactory information 

 concerning them could be obtained. It is reported that on the 14th of May, 1870, the pounds 

 yielded from 300 to 1,100 shad each, which is probably above the average. 



In this connection also the following statement by R. B. Chalker, of Saybrook, Conn., 

 regarding the yearly catch of a pound-net, located 4 miles west of the mouth of the Connecticut 

 River, in the town of Westbrook, Conn., furnishes additional information of the same tenor : 



