700 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



tide weirs take smelts, alewives, a very few bass, sometimes a sbatl or a salmon, and miscellaneous 

 fish, such as herring, bluebacks, &c., which are utilized to fertilize the laud, but no shad or salmon 

 were takeu iu them in 1880. 



The high weirs, three iu uuinber, are built mainly for the capture of salmon, but take also 

 alewives, smelts, shad, bass, herring, and a few cod aud other sea fish. These weirs are all built 

 in Calais; oue of them just above Devil's Head, the other two near Red Beach. Farther down the 

 river are weirs for the capture of herring, and in these, too, a very few salmon are taken. 



The drift-nets are used solely for the capture of salmon, just below the lower dam in Calais 

 and Saint Stephen. They are generally 75 feet long and 8 feet deep, with a 6-inch mesh. There 

 are known to have been as many as seven of these nets in existence in 1880, but as they are often 

 used covertly aud illegally in immediate proximity to the dam, there is no means of ascertaining 

 how niauy were in actual use at any time. 



The dip nets are used for the capture of smelts and alewives about the falls, but all this fish- 

 ing is exceedingly irregular, no one pursuing it as a regular industry, and all the product being 

 consumed locally. 



The salmon fishery has been in a low condition for many years, and the yield for the year 1880 

 ranks among the poorest of the last decade. The total number taken by all modes appears to 

 have been 300, averaging in weight 12 pounds, and aggregating in value about $750. 



The shad taken are mostly of the small size, termed ''sea shad," but these are not taken in any 

 considerable numbers. Sometimes a weir will take 500 of them in a season, and market them fresh 

 along with alewives in Calais. Of the adults, to which the term "shad" is restricted among the 

 fishermen, merely a few specimens are taken. The best weir sometimes takes twenty or thirty in 

 a season, but in 1880 did not get half a dozen. 



Of alewives about 115 barrels were taken in 1880, of which about 10 barrels were sold fresh, 

 30 .barrels smoked, and 75 barrels salted. There are considerable quantities of bluebacks takeu; 

 they are not distinguished by the fishermen from alewives, but the above figures are believed to 

 represent the numbers of true alewives. 



Of bass (Roccus Uncut UK) very few are taken, about as many as of the river shad. One weigh- 

 ing 21 pounds was taken in oue of the weirs in 1880. 



Smelts are caught iu the weirs in small numbers and in dip-nets at the Union dams iu Calais. 

 They are consumed locally, and the total quantity marketed probably does not exceed in value $150 

 yearly. The dip-net fishery is limited to two or three weeks in the spring. Smelts iu plenty can 

 be taken with the hook all through the summer in the lower part of the river. 



Messrs. Lewis Wilson & Son have been engaged since 1853 in fishing in Calais just above 

 Devil's Head, with a weir, always in the same spot aud of the same form, without an.\ perceptible 

 interference from other weirs. Their experience may fairly be taken as indicating the relative, abund- 

 ance of the fishes that they catch. Their record of salmon has been very carefully kept, and shows 

 that the years of the greatest abundance of that species were, in order, as follows : 18G2, 1871, 1877, 

 18GO, 1807, 1863, 1868; and the years of least abundance, in order, were 1850, 1874, I860, isr,.;. 

 1805, 1864, 1857. Perhaps the most noteworthy fact disclosed by Mr. Wilson's record is that sal- 

 mon run much later in the season on the Saint Croix than in the central and western rivers of the 

 Stare. Fifty-two per cent, of the catch for the entire period was obtained later than the month 

 of June, 21 per cent, was takeu in August, and 3 per ceut. in September. Similar generalizations 

 can be made from the recent record of a weir at Red Beach, faither down the river, and the 

 salmon are also known to run late in the Machias and East Machias Rivers. These are all in 



