Table 2. --Total effort, catch (number of shad), and catch per unit of 



effort of each type of gear fished in the Ogeechee River, 1954. 



Area 



Effort 

 (net-days) 



Catch 



Catch per 

 unit of effort 



Coastal area: 



Coastal drift net 

 Inland area: 



455 



9,490 



20.8 



Kings Ferry set nets 

 Upper set nets 

 Upper drift nets 



353 

 407 



108 



4,359 

 4,341 

 1,906 



12.3 

 10.7 

 17.6 



The number of fish escaping the Kings 

 Ferry set nets and therefore available to tne 

 combined upper nets was 21,659. The latter 

 nets tooic 6,247 fish in 352 net-days, allowing 

 15,412 fish to escape. Consequently, 



q352 . j-5.412 ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^ . 0.99903, 

 21,659 



andp : 0.00097. 



Comparing the fishing power of the Kings 

 Ferry set nets (p = 0.00052) and the combined 

 upper nets (p = 0.00097) to that of coastal drift 

 nets (p r 00068), we find that the former two 

 catch respectively 0.76 and 1.43 times as many 

 fish. Now that a measure of the fishing power 

 of each type of gear has been obtained it is 

 possible to convert all fishing effort into stand- 

 ard units . A standard fishing unit (s . f . u . ) day 

 will be defined as 100 yards of coastal drift 

 net fished for 1 day. Fishing effort (net -days) 

 of each type gear is converted to standard fish- 

 ing units by multiplying each net's effort by the 

 following conversion factors: 



Effort Conversion s.f.u. 



(net -days) factors days 



Coastal drift nets 455 



Kings Ferry set nets 353 



Combined upper nets 352 



Total --- --- 1226 



Thus a total of 1,226 s.f.u days was re- 

 quired to remove 20,096 shad from an available 

 population of 35,508 shad. 



1/ 



By using Talbot's formula N = C 



(l-q^) 

 in conjunction with data obtained in this study 

 it will be possible to determine the size of the 

 Ogeechee River shad run for each year in which 

 catch and effort records are obtained, provided 

 the fishing gear continues to be fished in the 

 same manner, fishing effort is uniform through- 

 out season, and the migration pattern of shad 

 within the river is the same each year. 



The sport fishery 



Sport fishermen catch shad on die Ogee- 

 chee River by trolling or setting lines from 

 anchored boats. Only artificial lures are used, 

 the principal ones being spoons and yellow 

 feather jigs. 



There is no closed season on sport-fishing 

 for shad. The length of the season is depend- 

 ent upon the duration of the run. In 1954, shad 

 were taken by sportsmen over a period of 

 approximately 60 days, beginning in mid- 

 February and ending in mid- April. 



1/ N ; size of run, C : total catch, 

 n = number of s.f.u. days, 

 q is assumed to be constant from year to 

 year. 



