110 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



Sound region, and particularly the Chowan River. Other rivers discharging 

 into the sound also yield small quantities, as do the Pamlico and Neuse rivers. 

 None are marketed south of Carteret County. Alewives are taken in pound 

 nets, haul seines, and gill nets. The season is a relatively short one, occurring 

 in late March, April, and early May. 



The alewife is anadromous, i.e., it lives in salt water but migrates into 

 fresh-water rivers and streams for the purpose of spawning. The time of 

 its spawning migration in a given locality is regular from year to year. In 

 the Albemarle Sound region, the first run usually occurs in late March or 

 the first half of April. A number of Albemarle Sound fishermen say that the 

 largest runs "almost always start on the Monday following Easter Sunday." 

 The goggle-eye usually arrives three or four weeks ahead of the school 

 herring; the latter arrive with the shad. The goggle-eye also spawns farther 

 upstream than does the school herring. 



The alewife has a high reproductive capacity. The average number of eggs 

 produced per female is given by Smith (1907) as 100,000. The adhesive eggs 

 cling to sticks, stones, pilings, and other available material; fishermen report 

 large numbers of eggs sticking to the pound nets. The length of time required 

 for hatching depends on water temperature; two to six days is considered 

 the range of the period of incubation. The young are very active and feed on 

 other small fish, mosquito larvae, small crustaceans, insects, etc. 



Insofar as is known, the adult alewife, like all members of the herring 

 family, is a plankton feeder. The alewife, young and old, in turn serves as 

 food for other predatory fishes which occupy the same waters. Predators in 

 fresh water include the striped bass and white perch. Its salt-water enemies 

 undoubtedly include the bluefish, Spanish mackerel, and many others. 



The young alewives spend their first summer in the fresh water, growing 

 to a length of two to four inches by fall, at which time the water temperature 

 drops and the young fish move downstream and into the warmer salt water. 

 After three or four years the fish have attained adult size, are sexually 

 mature, and ascend the rivers to spawn. 



Little is known of the alewife during its stay in salt water. What happens 

 to the adult fish after spawning is also a mystery. It is evident that they 

 return to the ocean, since no adults are found in the rivers or sounds after 

 completion of the spawning season. The commercial catch consists almost 

 entirely of three- and four-year-old fish. It is not definitely known whether 

 the four-year-old fish also spawned as three-year-olds, or whether these fish 

 did not mature until their fourth year and are spawning for the first time. 



The North Carolina alewife fishery has declined during the last 40 to 50 

 years. During the period 1890 to 1900 the annual production of the State 

 was between 15 and 20 million pounds (about one-third of U. S. production). 

 This decline is not so severe as that experienced in New England, where a 



