112 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



of a few days. The earliest runs consist largely of males (bucks) whereas the 

 females (roe-shad) arrive in the later runs. The roe-shad are larger, weighing 

 on the average at least a pound more than the bucks. The eggs are deposited 

 over the stream bottom, sandy or pebbly shallows being selected when avail- 

 able. On the average, 25,000 to 30,000 eggs are produced per female, although 

 large individuals may produce as many as 150,000. The eggs fall to the river 

 bottom, where they remain until hatching. Many eggs, therefore, may not be 

 fertilized, may be covered by mud or silt, and may be eaten by bottom-feed- 

 ing animals. 



The eggs hatch in from three to ten days; the exact time depends upon 

 water temperature. The young feed on plankton which they obtain by means 

 of numerous long gill-rakers, and grow rapidly during the summer. They 

 remain in fresh water until, with the advent of cold weather in the fall, they 

 move downstream and into the sea. By fall, they have reached an average 

 length of three to five inches. Young individuals of seven to nine inches are 

 not uncommon in some areas. Little is known of the growth rate of the shad 

 after they leave the streams. They mature and first spawn at about the same 

 age as the alewife, i.e., three or four years. 



Upon completion of spawning, the adults begin their return to the sea. 

 These fish are in poor condition because they take little or no food during the 

 spawning migration. However, according to Atkins (in Bigelow and Welsh, 

 1925) they begin feeding again before reaching salt water, and so recover 

 somewhat before going out to sea. 



North Carolina is favorably situated geographically, with respect to shad, 

 in that the shad runs occur here early in the season while the price is high. 

 When the later large runs of the Chesapeake and other northern waters reach 

 their peak, the price of shad drops as much as 50 per cent or more, because 

 of the larger supply. But by this time, the bulk of the North Carolina supply 

 has been marketed. 



The history of the shad decline in North Carolina parallels that of the 

 entire Atlantic coast. Shad were once so abundant as to be sold for fertilizer 

 but the runs became smaller during the period 1800-1850. The earliest avail- 

 able records for the whole coast are for 1880, when 17 million pounds were 

 taken. Stevenson (1899), however, gives records for the Greenfield seine 

 fishery in Albemarle Sound from 1852 to 1896. These records show years of 

 abundance and scarcity throughout the period, with a general increase from 

 1852 to 1874, a rapid decrease from 1875 to 1878, followed by a gradual 

 increase to 1896, a year in which 50 million pounds were taken from the 

 rivers of the Atlantic coast. It is not known whether the Greenfield records 

 reflect accurately the picture of the entire coast, but they very likely follow 

 the general trends in the coastal fishery. Total production dropped to 26 

 million pounds in 1908, and the 1940 catch was only about 12 million pounds. 



