THE FISHERIES OF THE CONNECTICUT KIVER. 



Catch of a pound-net at mouth of Connecticut River. 



665 



Aggregate catch for the ten years from 1856 to 1865, inclusive 69,375 



Average catch per season 6,937 



Aggregate catch for the ten years from 1866 to 1875, inclusive 122,101 



Average catch per season 12,210 



Aggregate catch for the five years from 1876 to 1880 58,506 



Average catch per season 1], Tul 



The above table shows the average increase of catch in pound-nets since their introduction 

 in place of hauling seines. The first pound-net set for shad in Westbrook was in the year 1849. 



In the early shad fisheries of the Connecticut River haul-seines were mainly employed. 

 This mode of fishing involved a considerable outlay of capital for their equipment and operation. 

 Gradually gill-nets supplanted haul-seines, and, on account of the unproductiveness of the latte, 

 came into more general use. These again were supplanted to a great extent by the introduction 

 of pound-nets, which, as the law prohibited their being set in the river itself, occupied every 

 available position along the shores of the sound from the mouth of the river to a distance of some 

 6 or 8 miles west. Practically, however, these nets are in the river itself, being so placed as to 

 intercept the run of the shad. It is curious to note that these pound-nets are exclusively set on 

 the west side of the mouth of the river ; and in response to inquiry as to why this was so, the 

 information was given that shad could not be taken in any large numbers on the east side of the 

 river's mouth. This would indicate that the shad run up the shore line from west to cast, which 

 conclusion has led to the inferences that the fish enter Long Island Sound at its extreme western 

 end, and also that the shad of the Connecticut, the Hudson, and, of course, of the minor streams 

 lying between these two rivers, are detachments of the same schools of fish. 



THE AJLEWIFE FISHERY. The alewife fisheries are insignificant, and are operated only in 

 several coves along the river's banks, the law prohibiting nets from being fished in the main 

 stream. Conspicuous among these fisheries is that conducted at Weathersfield Cove, by Mr. 



