684 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES. 



are taken iu the Kenuebec or tributaries during the last days of April, but the main run is in May 

 and June. Before the erection of mill-dams the shad ascended the Kenuebec and tributaries to a 

 distance of 100 miles, and the Penobscot to a distance of 170 miles from the sea; and it is probable 

 that their spawning grounds in those days were largely iu the quiet stretches of river above, the 

 influence of the tide. But in recent times their migrations have been restricted to the tidal por- 

 tions of both those rivers, as also of nearly all the rivers in the State, and their eggs are all laid 

 in water subject to the action of the tides, yet entirely free from salt. The earliest ripe spawn is 

 observed the last week in May. Spawning doubtless begins before June 1, but is mostly performed 

 in June, while the latest shad are not ready till July possibly a few individuals not until August. 

 The poor and shrunken shad that have completed the work of spawning are first seen on their 

 return to the sea about June 20, and they are constantly met with through July. They begin to 

 feed before reaching the open sea, and recover a good deal of fat and flavor before disappearing. 



The eggs of shad have a slightly greater specific gravity than water. Extruded into the open 

 waters, protected by their transparency, swayed hither and thither by the currents, they develop 

 with great rapidity, and in three or four days, according to the temperature of the water, give 

 birth to living fish. The young shad descend very shortly to sea. 



Shad are believed to attain maturity in three or four years. A portion of the males have 

 active sexual functions when a little larger than an alewife, and probably a year old. A more 

 numerous class of immature individuals feed about the bays and in the mouths of the rivers dur- 

 ing the summer later than the ascent of the main body of breeders. They are of smaller size, 

 fatter, more numerous, with sexual functions dormant. The fishermen call these ' sea shad," and 

 consider them quite distinct from the " river shad " or " spring shad," but there is abundant reason 

 to believe them merely the common shad at a particular stage of growth. They never ascend the 

 rivers so far as the spawning shad, rarely showing themselves in any great numbers above the 

 reach of brackish water. They frequent some salt bays entirely removed from fresh rivers ; for 

 instance, the northeast branch of Oasco Bay, where fisheries for them have existed for many years, 

 and have sometimes been quite productive. But these localities are in the vicinity of the Keu- 

 ncbec River, and I know of no instance of their occurrence at any great distance from a shad 

 river. 



The original range of shad iu Maine included almost if not quite every river in the State ; but 

 in the smaller rivers it does not appear from the scanty evidence attainable that they were ever 

 very plenty. From nearly the whole extent of some of the larger rivers they were excluded by 

 impassable falls, and from many of second size they were shut out by mill-dams at so early a date 

 that their former presence is attested only by a dim tradition. In short, there are only three 

 rivers in the State iu which it is quite certain that there ever existed an important shad-fishery. 

 These are the Saint Croix, Penobscot, and Kennebec, and in the Kenuebec alone has the fishery 

 continued to be of considerable importance to the present time, while in but three other rivers and 

 a few salt bays is there now any attempt to fish for shad. 



MODES or CAPTURE. Shad are caught iu weirs, seines, drift-nets, and dip-nets. 



Weirs. The weir mainly employed at the present day for the capture of spring and summer 

 fish iu the Kennebec River, in which shad are the most important fish taken, differs from the sal- 

 mon weir already described, in that the fish are not left by the retreating tide on a board floor, 

 but in a deep and spacious inclosure, from wnich they are taken with a seine. They have been 

 generally termed " deep-water " weirs, but, from the mode of operation, may be better styled 

 "seine-weirs." The seine-weir commonly consists of three pounds, denominated, " first pound " or 

 "pasture," "second" or " middle" pound, and "third" or ' fish pound." The latter is an inclosure 



