any of the scales examined, which indicates 

 that Edisto River shad die after their first 

 spawning. This same conclusion was reached 

 by Cable (1944) from examination of Edisto 

 River shad scales. Two hundred ninety-two 

 Edisto River shad were sampled and aged us 

 ing the method of Cating (1953), and it was 

 found that the majority of males were 3 and 4 

 years old and most of the females were 5 years 

 old (table 3) . 



When a female shad spawns, it casts 

 its eggs loose in the water where they are 

 fertilized by one or more males. The individ- 

 ual eggs are semi -buoyant and are carried 

 with the current. Special-type nets are set in 

 the current to intercept these eggs and limit 

 the spawning area . 



In 1938, Cable (unplublished data) made 

 an intensive study of the shad spawning area in 

 the Edisto River (table 4) . She found that the 

 major shad spawning area was between West 

 Bank and Givhans Ferry State Park . Eggs 

 were found, however, as far downstream as 

 Willtown Bluff and as far upstream as Orange- 

 burg. 



During the present study a survey was 

 made to determine the 1955 shad spawning 

 area in the Edisto River. Nineteen egg samp- 

 ling stations were established between Willtown 

 Bluff on the lower river and Orangeburg and 

 Norway on the North and South Edisto Rivers, 

 respectively. Each station was visited four 

 times between March 18 and May 8, and two 

 nets were set on each occasion. These samp- 

 ling nets were cone-shaped, with a diameter 

 of 1 meter and a length of 3 meters, and were 

 made of nylon marquisette with approximately 

 24 meshes to the inch. Relatively few eggs 

 were obtained in this study, possibly because 

 of high water and debris, which limited samp- 

 ling time to 1/2 hour per set. However, 

 results of this limited survey tend to corrob- 

 orate Cable's 1938 findings. 



Discussion and recommendations 



Cable (1944) believed that the Edisto 

 River shad population was overfished. In 1938, 

 she stated that the low* r river set gill net 



fishery caught 65 percent of its weekly catch 

 on Monday night, 20 percent on Tuesday night, 

 10 percent on Wednesday night, and 5 percent 

 on Thursday night. Because the fish that es- 

 caped were then subject to the upriver fishery, 

 she concluded that, at most, only 10 percent 

 of the run escaped to spawn. The above con- 

 dition does not appear to be true in 1955 . 

 Catch records were obtained from all nets 

 fished in the lower fishery, so the proportion 

 of the weekly catch made each night can easily 

 be determined. It was found that on the aver- 

 age 36 percent of the catch was made on Tues- 

 day night and 32 percent was made on each of 

 the remaining two nights. 



The sport and bow net fisheries caught 

 50 percent of the total shad catch in 1955, and, 

 although not subject to any regulations, it is 

 estimated that over one -third of the total shad 

 catch was made by this gear (table 1). 



There are no catch -and -effort records 

 available for previous years on the Edisto. 

 However, commercial fishermen on the river 

 state that catches have been declining for a 

 number of years. Before the cause of this de- 

 cline can be ascertained, catch -and-effort 

 records must be obtained for a period of years. 

 If these data are obtained, an intensive study, 

 similar to that conducted in 1955, can be made 

 to determine the factors that are affecting the 

 population . On the Connecticut River and the 

 Hudson River, where data of this type were 

 available (Fredin, 1954; Talbot, 1954), the 

 major cause of population fluctuations was de- 

 termined, and, as a result, it is now possible 

 to manage these fisheries to obtain maximum 

 yields. If data were made available, this also 

 could be accomplished for the Edisto River. 



SUMMARY 



1 . Shad were taken in the Edisto by the 

 following types of gear: set gill net, drift gill 

 net, haul seine, bow net, and hook and line . 

 Catch data were obtained from logbooK records 

 kept by the operators of all types of gear except 

 hook and line. The total catch made by this 

 fishery was determined by a post-card survey. 

 Total 1955 Edisto River shad catch was esti- 

 mated to be 11,000 shad. 



