BULLETIN OF THP: UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 243 



Waccamaw and Pecdee Eivcrs. I also went up the Black River, a 

 tributary of the Pecdee, but only on the t\vo former rivers and Winy aw 

 Bay, into which they empty, is any fishing done. 



On account of the character of the bottom and banks no seine haul- 

 ing is carried on, and the fishing is entirely by gill-nets. This year 

 about thirty nets were fished, averaging 150 fathoms long, 5^ to 5^ inches 

 mesh, and IG to 18 feet deep. They are not allowed to reach the bottom 

 on account of snags. The average catch this year was about 800 shad 

 per net. Many of the gillers live in flat-boats, moored at convenient 

 localities. 



Tdr. Barnes's flat is at the junction of Jericho Creek and the Wacca- 

 maw. He fishes three nets, employing nine men, viz., a superintendent, 

 two for each net, a cook, and a marketman, who carries the fish in a 

 small boat to tovrn, 10 miles below. Mr. Barnes says they catch xbiy 

 few ripe fish of either sex, but take a good many " down runners," oj 

 spent fish. He believes all the fish go long distances above the highest 

 fisheries, which are only a short distance from salt water, to spawn. 



On the headwaters of these rivers, owing to the natural difficulties' 

 and the absence of market facilities, the oulj^ shad caught are taken 

 with bow-nets and short pieces of gill-nets, as on the Saint Mary's, and 

 used for home consumption alone. A great many shad are taken in 

 Winyaw Bay before they leave salt water. 



The best of the season here is February and March. On the day of 

 my visit to Mr. Barnes's fiat, the 7th instant, his total catch was three 

 shad, and he quit fishing that day. He was paying 30 cents each at 

 first hand for the fish he bought, aud 1 see by the quotations in the 

 Star of the 8th instant that they are being sold in Washington at $25 

 to $32 per hundred. 



It is possible that some little work might be done here before the 

 opening of the season further north. There would certainly be more 

 chance of success than in Florida, as tar as my experience goes. I do 

 not think much can be done where the catch of shad is taken by gill- 

 nets, especially as fished in Southern rivers. 



As a rule comparatively few shad are taken at a drift, and of these 

 the proportion of males and females is rarely equallj" divided. Still more 

 rarely are the two sexes in the proper condition for spawning. Espe- 

 cially is this true where by force of circumstances these nets are fished 

 only in the long, deep reaches of the river and never allowed to fish 

 near the bottom. Consequently it seems to me most of the fish taken 

 are those running up or down from the spawning-beds near the head- 

 waters, where they cannot be caught except in limited numbers by the 

 bow-net, &c. 



We left Georgetown on the evening of the 7th instant, arriving ofi:' 

 the Chesapeake early on the morning of the 9th, touched at IN'orfolk for 

 a couple of hours, and then proceeded to Washington, D. C, arriving on 

 the evening of this dare. 



Washington, D. C, April 10, 1884. 



