Table 5. --Number of shad eggs collected at various stations in the 

 Ogeechee River, 1954 



Station 



No. eggs 



Three miles below A. C. L. trestle 



Kings Ferry 



Mouth Canoochee River 



Uncle Shed's Landing 



Rose's Fish Camp 



Morgan s Bridge 



Highway 80 Bridge 



Steel Bridge 



Brooklet Landing 



Sherwood Trestle 



Oliver Bridge 



Williams Landing 



Ogeechee Bridge 



Roctcy Ford Bridge 



Scarboro Bridge 



Mi Hen 



Hemdon 



Midville 



Louisville 







4 



12 



2 



14 



1 



4 



31 



20 



5 



13 



17 



61 



19 







1 







1 







205 



Summary and Conclusions 



At the present time the Ogeechee River is 

 free of dams and pollution. However, textile 

 mills are being considered in the coastal area 

 of the river. Should they become a reality, 

 toxic effluents and blocking of fish by a dam 

 will become a menace to future shad popula- 

 tions unless the dam is provided with suitable 

 fishways and effluent concentrations are kept 

 below safe tolerance levels . 



The results of this study indicate that the 

 total commercial shad catch was 20,096 shad, 

 the total population was 35,508 shad, the spawn- 

 ing escapement was 12,007 shad (34 percent of 

 the population) and the overall fishing rate 

 (exerted by commercial and sport fisheries) 

 was 66 percent. A study of the sport fishery 

 revealed that 3,405 shad were taken by hook 

 and line . 



Catch and effort data for years prior to 

 1954 are not available on the Ogeechee River . 



10 



Therefore, population size and escapement 

 for past years cannot be determined. If catch 

 and effort records are obtained for subsequent 

 years on the Ogeechee River the data presented 

 in this report can be used as a basis to deter- 

 mine total population and escapement for each 

 year in which records are obtained . If the 

 factors causing fluctuations in population size 

 can be determined and controlled, management 

 recommendations can be made to obtain maxi- 

 mum yields . This type of study was made on 

 the Connecticut River (Fredin, 1954) and 

 Hudson River (Talbot, 1954) shad fisheries, 

 and it is now possible to manage these fisher- 

 ies scientifically. 



In view of the complete absence of data 

 which could be used as a basis for management 

 recommendations, and the impossibility of 

 managing this fishery without such data, it is 

 recommended that yearly catch and effort re- 

 cords be obtained by the State of Georgia . When 

 these records have been collected for a series 

 of years, studies can proceed to determine 

 factors affecting shad abundance in the Ogeechee 

 River. 



