REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. llX 



was not only made first in the Connecticut Eiver, but also on a larger 

 scale than elsewhere; and the results of the experiment of 18G7 were 

 seeu as early as 1870. To the confusion of the incredulous, schools of 

 shad in immense numbers were seeu in the spring in Long Island Sound, 

 all making their way to the Conuecticut Eiver, and on the 23d of May 

 over 2,800 were taken from a pound near Saybrook. At another pound 

 3,5(j0 were taken, and elsewhere they were caught in numbers varying 

 with the locality. The largest haul previously on record was in 1811, 

 •when 2,280 were caught at one time, although a draught of 2,300 was 

 reported at Haddain Pier in 1802. 



The abundance of shad in the river in 1871 was still greater than in 

 the previous year, so much so, indeed, that in the time of greatest 

 plenty they could, scarcely be disposed of at the rate of $3.50 per hun- 

 dred. At the present period the increase has been such that numerous 

 fishing-stations, for a long time abandoned, have resumed operations 

 with very satisfiictory results. 



A great increase in the number of shad has also manifested itself in 

 the Hudson and the Merrimac, and with a reasonable continuance of 

 eftbrt there is every reason to expect that the pristine abundance of fish 

 will be restored, and possibly even increased, if young shad are hatched 

 out in suificient number. 



2. — The aJeu'ife or fresh-ivater Jierring. 



I am inclined to think, for various reasons, that too little has been 

 done in our waters toward the restoration to their primitive abundance 

 of the alewife {Pomolohiis mediocrls), the herring of our Southern and 

 Middle States; not to be confounded with the sea-herring, {Clupea 

 elongata.) It is better known as the alewife throughout New England, 

 and is the gaspereau of the British provinces. Like the shad, it as- 

 cends from the ocean in early spring into the fresh or brackish waters, 

 and has the advantage of breeding in quiet ponds, instead of requiring 

 a river for its development. In former times, and before the introduc- 

 tion of dams across the streams, tliis fish was very abundant along the 

 coast, and supplied an important article of food to the people, both fresh 

 and salted. 



The alewife in many respects is superior, in commercial and economi- 

 cal value, to the herring, being a much larger and sweeter fish, and 

 more like the true shad in this respect. Of all American fish none are 

 so easily propagated as the alewife ; and waters from which it has been 

 driven by the erection of impassable dams can be fully restocked, in the 

 course of a few years, simply by transporting a sufficient number of the 

 mature fish, taken at the mouth of the stream to a point above the dams, 

 or ])lacing them in ponds or lakes. Here they will spawn, and return 

 to the sea after a short interval, making their way over dams which carry 

 any flow. The young alewives after a season descend, and return, if no 



