J. PISCICULTURE AND THE FISHERIES. 397 



FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE FISH COMMISSIONERS OF 



NEW JERSEY. 







The fifth animal report (for the year 1874) of the Com- 

 missioners of Fisheries of the State of New Jersey contains 

 a notice of the work done during that year. The report re- 

 fers in appropriate terms to the death of Dr. J. H. Slack, one 

 of the oldest Commissioners of the state, and one of the most 

 successful fish-culturists in this country. In reference to 

 shad the most important fish of the Delaware River the 

 report states that the catch during the year 1874 was 50 per 

 cent, more than in 1873, and that tlie average weight of the 

 fish was considerably increased. This was ascribed to the 

 better observance of the fishery laws for the past three sea- 

 sons, especially that requiring a weekly close time of thirty 

 hours, and also to the removal offish-baskets in the Delaware, 

 by which great numbers of young fish had heretofore been 

 destroyed. The Commissioners urge the enforcement of the 

 law in reference to this class of obstructions, and others of 

 greater or less moment. A very important feature in the 

 report consists in the reprint of the laws enacted by the Legis- 

 lature of New Jersey, in reference to the concurrent rights 

 of New Jersey and Pennsylvania over the fisheries of the 

 Delaware ; and also the agreements on the subject entered 

 into by the representatives of the two states at various 

 times. 



SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE FISH COMMISSIONERS OF 



NEW JERSEY. 



The sixth annual report of the Commissioners of Fisheries 

 for the State of New Jersey, for the year 1875, has also been 

 published, giving an account of what has been accomplished 

 under their auspices. For greater convenience, they divided 

 the state into the tidal or southern department and the non- 

 tidal, each having special representatives in the board. 



They are happy to state that, in consequence of the care 

 bestowed upon the fishing interests by the enactment of laws 

 and their enforcement by the Commissioners, the catch of 

 shad is becoming greater in numbers and of larger size in 

 each successive year, the fishing in the bay having been ex- 

 traordinarily successful in 1875. Two hundred and fifty shad 



