REPORT UPON THE ALEWIFE FISHERIES 

 OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



Part I . 



INTRODUCTION. 



An important part of the work of a progressive State fish 

 and game commission is the investigation of natural resources 

 for the purpose of determining proper and effective methods 

 of conserving these valuable assets for the benefit of the public. 

 For the past fifteen years the Massachusetts Division of Fish- 

 eries and Game has been investigating such economic prob- 

 lems, one of which, the alewife fishery, furnishes an excellent 

 illustration of the practical value of biological study in the 

 preservation of a commercial fishery. 



Importance. — Since the disappearance of the shad, the ale- 

 wife, or branch herring (Pomolobus pseudoharengus), the most 

 abundant food fish inhabiting the rivers of the Atlantic coast, 

 has become commercially the most valuable anadromous fish 

 in Massachusetts. Ever since the landing of the Pilgrims, 

 when the alewife provided the most readily available source of 

 food for the early inhabitants of New England, it has been 

 closely related to the prosperity of the shore towns, where it 

 has always been held as a public asset. The successful re-es- 

 tablishment of this depleted fishery would benefit the shore 

 towns directly, and indirectly would prove of even greater value 

 to the fisheries as a whole. 



The alewife is of value as food, as bait, and as a food sup- 

 ply for other salt and fresh-water fish. Either fresh or cured, 

 it forms an excellent and inexpensive article of diet. Because 

 of its abundance and comparative cheapness, it is satisfactory 

 as bait, and recently its scales have become of commercial 

 value. In the fresh-water ponds, which serve as spawning 

 grounds, the young alewives furnish a by no means insignifi- 



