BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 461 



Laving a value are the liver, for the oil it coiitaius, and the jaw, which 

 after being- cleaned is worth from $1 to $7, according to size and quality. 

 Many of the sharks taken are worthless, except for the oil contained in 

 the liver, and are simply destroyed. 



Shad fishing on the Saint John's Eiver, Florida. — Uv. Jo. 

 seph Shepard, collector of customs at Saint Mary's, Ga., writing on 

 April 19, 188G, inclosed a letter from Mr. C. L. Kobiuson, from which the 

 following notes are taken: 



The shad season on the Saint John's is from December 1 to about 

 April 8. When they come in they are fat and go into all parts of the 

 river ; but on their return to the ocean in June and July, they are very 

 poor and keep low in the deep water, following the channel. Only a 

 small portion of them return, and it is thought that the most die of 

 exhaustion and are devoured by alligators and larger fish. The young 

 shad go down to salt water early in summer, when they are about I J 

 inches long. 



The iirst fishing done here specially for shad, was by Captain Water- 

 house, of Connecticut, two years before the war. Since the war a con- 

 siderable business has grown up, till, in the season of 1873-74, it was 

 estimated that 500,000 were shipped from the Saint John's, mostly to 

 Savannah, from which place they were distributed to various points 

 north. 



Our fishermen think that the shad have always been about as abun- 

 dant as now in the Saint John's, but that the appliances for capturing 

 them have been improved from year to year and more persons have 

 engaged in the business. In this river a net of 4J-inch mesh is mostly 

 used, while in the Connecticut one of o^-inch mesh is used, as the shad 

 caught here are not so large as those of the Connecticut Eiver. 



KOTE ON THE FISHERIES OF SAINT MARY'S EiVER. — April 19, 



1886, Mr. Joseph Shepard wrote that the passenger steamer Martha, 

 running on the Saint Mary's River, carried, during the fishing season of 

 1886, 279 sturgeon, estimated to average 60 pounds each, dressed, con- 

 signed to New York by the Mallory steamers, via Fernandiua, Fla. 

 The steamer Martha also carried for this market and Fernaudiua about 

 1,200 shad. 



During the season there were also shipped from Fernaudiua, in 4- 

 gallon cans, about 600 gallons of shrimps, being boiled first and the 

 heads pulled off. A small sloop also fished for sturgeon on the Satilla 

 Eiver, and shipped them north via Biunswick, Ga. 



Eegulating THE LAKE FISHERIES. — At the meeting of the Mich- 

 igan fishermen, held in Detroit, resolutions embodying the following 

 propositions were adopted : 



(1) That a law should be enacted creating a sufficient number of fish 

 inspectors or wardens to properly inspect each portion of the fishing 

 coast and enforce such regulations and laws as may now or hereafter 

 be in force. 



