BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 241 



Vol. IT, ]%o, 16. l^^aslaiisg-toia, I>. C. July SO, 1884. 



131.— KIiS*©KT OF A TKB1» EV THE STEAITEEK FB8BS SBAWIfc TO THE 



SAINT MABVS ANH SAl.^T JOMIV'S BIVEKS TO HATCH JSHAO. 



By I^icMt. IrT. M, l»¥i>OI>, CoaaBBiaaucIiaag-. 



I have the honor to report that under present conditions but little can 

 be done in the way of shad propagation on the Saint Mary's Eiver. 

 The stream is narrow, deep, without shoal places, and has stron.^ tidal 

 currents. Its banhs are very steep and overgrown bj^ thickets to the 

 water's edge. The only tishing done is with the bow-net and a very few 

 gill nets. I have only been able to find eight gillers fishing in the few 

 reaches, miles apart, that are comparatively free from snags. On ac- 

 count of snags and the narrowness of the river the longest nets used by 

 these men are only 25 fathoms and some as short as 12 fathoms. They 

 commenced fishing the 1st of January, and the catch to date, for the va- 

 rious gillers, runs from 100 to 700 shad. An average of about eight per 

 day for the best. 



I have had one gill-net fished every tide since the very day of our ar- 

 rival. The best any one net has done on a tide has been eleven shad 

 and two sturgeon. The ordinary catch is from two to nine. I have also 

 sent spawn takers to overhaul the fish taken by the other gillers who 

 are within reach. 



Of all the fish we have seen, but a very small number have been ripe ; 

 and never yet have male and female been taken together in proper condi- 

 tion. As the total daily catch of fish is so small the odds are largely 

 against many of both sexes being in proper condition. A few of the 

 few ripe shad taken have been over-riije, but the majority have been as 

 hard as when first caught in the Potomac. 



While Hamlen was here I took him 25 miles further up the river to 

 overhaul the fish taken in the bow-nets fished there and to try one of 

 our gill-nets. He could not fish the latter on account of snags, and the 

 fish taken in the bow-nets were in the same condition as further down. 



I have made every effort to use our seine but have at last given it up. 

 We took even less fish in that way than in the gill-nets. There is only 

 one place I could find where it v/as practicable at all, It took two days 

 hard work to partially clear the haul of snags and saw-logs, and in all 

 the hauls we made not one was perfectly clear. The snags could probably 

 be removed in time but even then it would not pay to fish a seine on 

 this river. As the Saint Mary's is so narrow it can only be hauled on 

 slack water, for if laid up or down stream while the tide is running, to 

 cover a part of a reach, it will either be swept into the other bank or 

 below before it can possibly be landed. 

 Bull. U. S. F. C, 84 16 



