220 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



our country. Their range is from Florida to Maine. 

 There are two species of the fish, the branch herring or 

 alewife proper, and the glut herring or kyack. The branch 

 herring usually appears in rivers earlier than the glut 

 herring. The glut herring appears suddenly, about the 

 middle of the shad season, in enormous schools. Spawn- 

 ing takes place at a shorter distance from the sea than in 

 the case of the branch herring. The alewife may be readily 

 distinguished from the glut herring by the pale lining of 

 the abdominal cavity, this lining being black in the glut 

 herring. 



As a food-fish the alewife is generally regarded as supe- 

 rior to the sea herring, being larger and of a better flavor, 

 but in the latter quality they are inferior to the shad. 

 Large quantities are consumed fresh. They are also pre- 

 pared for market by being salted and smoked. The fish is 

 highly satisfactory among the fishermen of Maine and 

 Massachusetts as bait for cod and other ground fisheries. 



The alewife is a shore fish. The method of catching 

 alewives is by pound nets, trap nets, gill nets, weirs, and 

 seines. They are caught in much larger quantities than 

 any other fish entering the fresh waters of the country, 

 and among all fish in American waters are surpassed in 

 the abundance of the catch only by two species, the sea 

 herring and the menhaden. The leading states in which 

 the alewife industry is pursued are Maryland, North Car- 

 olina, and Virginia. Important fisheries exist along the 

 New England, New York, and New Jersey coasts. In 

 1896, the six states leading in the alewife industry were 

 Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Massachusetts, Rhode 

 Island, and Maine. 



The value of the alewife industry in the country in 1880 

 was $526,546, in 1888 it was $500,713, and in 1896 it was 

 $459,598. The fishery of the middle Atlantic States was 

 between 40% and 50% of the total during these years. 



