REPORT ON SHAD-HATCHING OPERATIONS. 407 



May C. — River rising. Could not haul seine. Caught three male 

 shad with skim-net. Temperature of water, a. m., 63^; p. m., Q¥^. 



May 7. — River reported rising. Forty miles up the river caught two 

 shad with skim-net, both spawned out. Temperature of water, a. m., 

 63°; p. m. 63°. 



31ay 8. — Water so high could not fish. Temperature of water, a. ra., 

 63; p. m., 60°. 



May 9. — River rising. No fishing. Temperature of water, a. m., Go'^; 

 p. m., 67°. 



May 10. — River rising. No fishing. Temperature of water, a. m., 66° 

 p. m., 66°. 



May 11. — River rising. No fishing. Temperature of water, a. m. 66° ; 

 p. m., 67°. Spawn beginning to hatch in boxes. 



3£ay 12. — River raising, no prospects for more spawn. Temperature 

 of water 65° a. m. ; 67° p. m. 



May 13. — Turned loose 45,000 young shad in Neuse River. Pitchkill, 

 about twenty-four miles above New Berne on the Neuse, is the best 

 place for shad-hatching that we could hear of. 



May 14. — Received a dispatch to go to Weldon, N. C, on the Roanoke. 



May 15. — Arrived at Weldon, N. C. They were catching some rock- 

 fish, but no shad. The Roanoke very high but falling. 



May 10. — Catching good many rock-fish. Shad do not run with rock. 

 No chance of getting any shad till river falls. 



May 19. — Grot no ripe fish up to date. Got two ripe rock-fish ; 110,000 

 spawn. 



May 20. — River rising ; no ripe fisb. Temperature, of water a. m., 08° ; 

 p. m., 70°. 



May 21. — River rising ; caught no ripe fish. Temperature of water, 

 a. m., 680 ; p. m., 69°. 



May 23. — River rising ; caught no ripe fish. Turned loose 100,000 

 young rock-fish. Same principle hatches them that hatches shad. 



May 24. — Fish slides all under water, but we caught no ripe fish. 



May 25. — Caught a great many rock ; none ripe. 



A[ay 29, — Did not catch any ripe fish up to date. River rising very 

 fast. Took the 4 p. m. train to Washington. 



May 31. — Went to the Rappahannock River from Washington. Shad 

 fishing all done and nets hung up. 



In order to build up the rivers that we operated upon there must be 

 a close time of two days in each week before they can ever be restocked 

 artificially, or in any other way. The lower end of the rivers are so 

 completely barricaded with nets that the fish are nearly all caught 

 before they get to the spawning grounds. The rivers are so nearly 

 depopulated that there is scarcely any fishing done in the upper part of 

 the rivers, and there would not be any done if it was not for the enor- 

 mous prices they get for what few fish they do take. 



SETH GREEN. 



