'278 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



12. -REPORT <n I ill JltAI'M l«i IIMOI I) l> THE >l't4IX. of 1883 

 E\ THE PpTOJIA< RIVER A>D C HESAPEAKE BAY. 



By Lieut. W. M. WOOD, U. S. N. 



[From letter to Prof. S. F. Baird.] 



I beg leave to submit the following report on the trap-nets fished this 

 season in the Potomac River from Bryant's Point to its mouth, and in 

 the Chesapeake Bay from the mouth of the Potomac, by way of the 

 Capes, to Cherrystone Inlet. The accompanying- table gives whatever 

 reliable data I have been able to obtain. 



Wherever possible the catch of shad and herring was obtained, but 

 in most instances the owners of the nets were not to be found, and in 

 many others they had no record of the catch themselves. 



The fishermen of the Potomac spoke of the catch this season as very 

 light, but the reports became more favorable as we came down the 

 bay, culminating at York Spit, where it was the best ever known. The 

 catch here exceeded that of last year by one-third, and the average per 

 net was from 10,000 to 25,000 shad, and immense numbers of herring of 

 which no account was kept. The fishermen on the Eastern Shore say 

 they never make very large catches of shad there; that they did fairly 

 this year, and considerably better than last season. The table shows 

 153 nets in the Potomac, 244 on the west side of the bay, and 15 on 

 the Eastern Shore, making 412 in all. 



In some localities, instead of calling a net of two or more pockets a 

 single net, the fishermen speak of it as so many separate nets of a 

 single pocket each. 



In some instances, these nets, in a line, one outside the other, belong 

 to different individuals, though to all appearances they are one net. 

 Whenever I was able to find out a net which had more than one pocket 

 it has been so specified. 



Owing to the lateness of the season some few nets have probably 

 escaped my observation. After the shad season, most of the nets are 

 taken up, even as far down as York Spit. Comparatively few fish for 

 mackerel and summer fish. 



Steamer Fish Hawk, 



York River, June 21, 1883. 



*The accompanying tables have been compiled in tbe office of the Fish Commission 

 from the more detailed tables furnished by Lieutenant Wood.— Editor. 



