258 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND "WILDLIFE SERVICE 



taken by fishermen off the coast of Maine, in 

 Sandy Hook, Raritan, and Lower New York Bays, 

 off Long Island, and along the New Jersey coast. 

 One of the causes of extraneous mortality could be 

 fishing in these areas. 



From the New Jersey Division of Fish and Game 

 and the New York Conservation Department, the 

 records of the catches of shad (in pounds) by 

 pound-net fisheries off the New Jersey coast, in 

 Sandy Hook, Raritan, and Lower New York 

 Bays, and off Long Island have been obtained for 

 the years 1946 to 1950, as follows: 



' Not available. 

 * Incomplete. 



The number of pound nets in operation by New 

 Jersey fishermen increased each year from 144 in 

 1946 to 180 in 1950. Dr. James Westman, 

 Rutgers University, has informed me that before 

 1945 the Long Island pound nets were usually not 

 put in operation early enough in the spring to 

 fish for shad; but since 1945 the Long Island 

 pound nets have fished for shad. It is interesting 

 that negative deviations from regression occur in 

 1947, 1948, 1949, and 1950 in table 7. The 

 negative deviations from regression reflect an 

 adverse condition such as an increased extraneous 

 mortality which might be related to an increase in 

 pound-net effort. 



The relation between pound-net catches and 

 deviations from the expected populations in the 

 Connecticut River cannot be fully evaluated at 

 this time because the extent to which Connecticut 

 River shad contribute to these pound-net catches 

 is not known. Additional tagging studies con- 

 ducted in the areas where pound nets are fished 

 would enable us to determine the effect of this 

 fishing on the Connecticut River shad runs. The 

 causes of the extraneous-mortality rate must be 

 taken into consideration in a management program 

 to restore the Connecticut River shad population 

 to the level of abundance which it held in the 

 early 1940's. 



CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 



The Connecticut River shad reached a peak of 

 abundance in the middle 1940's, the runs becoming 

 smaller after 1946. According to analyses of 

 population and escapement data, over 80 percent 

 of the fluctuations in the size of the runs can be 

 attributed to changes in the size of the escape- 

 ment from the fishery. For a given number of 

 shad entering the river, the proportion of fish 

 escaping the fishery depends upon the fishing rate. 

 The fishing rate not only was higher from 1944 to 

 1951 than it was from 1935 to 1943 (table 6), 

 but the average size of the runs since 1944 has 

 been smaller. The conclusion is that the decline in 

 the abundance of shad since the middle 1940's 

 can be attributed, chiefly, to overfishing in the 

 river. The extraneous-mortality rate might also 

 affect the size of the run entering the river. If 

 further studies show that the extraneous-mortality 

 rate is a function of ocean pound-net fishing, the 

 problem of restoring the shad runs to their former 

 level of abundance broadens in scope; the pound- 

 net fisheries, as well as the river fishery, would 

 have to be managed. However, one inference 

 from analysis of the data is clear: when the escape- 

 ment totals are increased, the size of the runs in 

 later years may be expected to increase. 



As a result of the studies conducted in the 

 Connecticut River, the following conclusions have 

 been reached relative to the management of the 

 shad fishery: The size of" the shad run can be 

 predicted one season in advance within desired 

 limits of confidence, fishing effort and fishing rate 

 can be estimated prior to the beginning of the 

 season; hence the fishing effort should be adjust- 

 ed to permit escapement of a predetermined 

 number of shad. 



UntU additional information is obtained on tli9 

 extraneous-mortality rate, the river-fishing effort 

 should be maintained at a level that will permit 

 adequate spawning escapements to build up the 

 Connecticut River shad run. For the present, the 

 river-fishing effort should not exceed the 2,589 

 standard-fishing-unit days of effort expended in 

 1951. 



The most important contributions that can be 

 made toward the management of the river fishery 

 are the continued collection of scale samples and 

 the maintenance of catch and effort records from 

 the commercial fishery. The scale samples should 



