Drift gill nets decreased from a total of 

 91,550 yd. (yards) of net to 1,376 yd., seines 

 decreased from 7,150 to 3,800 yd., and set gill 

 nets increased from 850 to 6,190 yd. The 

 catches decreased from 940,421 to 50,065 lb. 

 in drift gill nets and from 353,418 to 298,700 

 lb. in seines and increased from 4,766 to 

 162,721 lb. in set gill nets. The total catch de- 

 creased 45 percent, from 1,298,605 to 709,486 

 lb. 



FISHERIES BY WATER AREA 



Two rivers in Florida, the St. Johns and the 

 St. Marys, support large shad fisheries (fig. 3). 

 In addition, a few fish are taken each year in 

 the Nassau River. The St. Marys River, for 

 much of its length, is the boundary between 

 Florida and Georgia, and fishermen fronn both 

 States fish the river. For convenience the 

 fishery of the St. Marys is discussed in this 

 section, but the catch and amount of gear fished 

 by Georgia fishermen are included in the dis- 

 cussion of the fishery in that State. 



St. Johns River 



This river originates in a grassy-plain 

 section of Florida, 50 miles north of Lake 

 Okeechobee and 15 miles inland from the 

 east coast. It flows north through a chain of 

 lakes for 260 miles to Jacksonville, Fla., and 

 then east for 26 miles before emptying into 

 the Atlantic Ocean at Mayport, Fla. The 

 St. Johns differs from other large rivers along 

 the Atlantic coast of the United States in that 

 it originates close to the coast and flows 

 northward, whereas the other rivers originate 

 farther inland and flow south before entering 

 the ocean. 



The St. Johns is not a clearly defined river 

 in its headwaters since it is shallow, winding, 

 and diffuse. In its northward meandering 

 through shallow lakes, it creates many diverse 

 channels until it reaches Lake Harney. From 

 here to its mouth, the river is deeper and has 

 a distinct channel suitable for navigation. Lake 

 George, the only sizeable lake between the 

 river mouth and Lake Monroe, lies 25 miles 

 south of Palatka, Fla., and is the head of tidal 

 influence. 



In 1896 the legal fishing season in the St. 

 Johns was from December 1 to the end of the 

 following March; fishing was closed each week 

 from sundown on Saturday to sunrise on Mon. 

 day. Fishing usually began at the opening of 

 the legal season, fully a month before shad 

 were caught in any other coastal water, and 

 ended the second or third week of March. It 

 was unlawful to fish for shad with gill nets 

 having a mesh size less thain 5 in., or any 

 seine having a mesh size less than 3 in. 



In 1896 only drift gill nets were fished for 

 shad between Jacksonville, Fla., amd the ocean; 

 146 nets with 5-in. mesh, 40 to 50 meshes 

 deep, and with a total length of 83,500 yd. took 

 821,450 lb. 



Nearly all of the catch was shipped to New 

 York City and other distant markets. 



In 1896 no fisheries were operated fronn 

 Jacksonville to Bridgeport, Fla., a distance 

 of 46 miles. The river in this area is 2 to 5 

 miles wide and sufficiently sluggish to pre- 

 clude the use of drift nets. 



Drift nets were used exclusively between 

 Bridgeport and Welaka, Fla., a distamce of 35 

 miles, and the fishery was centered in Palatka. 

 In 1896, 22 nets with 5-in. mesh were fished; 

 total length was 5,250 yd. The catch was 

 105,255 lb. Water hyacinth was so common 

 in this section of the river that drift gill net 

 fishing frequently became difficult or im- 

 possible. 



The upper St. Johns River consists of a 

 series of connected lakes; the more important 

 are Lakes George, Dexter, Monroe, and Har- 

 ney. Sanford, Fla., on the shore of Lake Monroe, 

 was the center of the shad fishery. Seines were 

 the principal gear in 1896, although most fish- 

 ing was confined to the channels, since it was 

 unlawful to fish seines in the lakes forming the 

 St, Johns. Twenty-four seines, 200 to 700 yd, 

 long (total length, 7,150 yd.) and 50 to 100 

 meshes deep, with 3- to 4-in. mesh, caught 

 353,418 lb. of shad. In addition, three opera- 

 tors caught a total of 7,384 lb. in 1,400 yd. 

 of drift gill net. 



In 1960 there were no obstructions to fish 

 passage in this river, and shad ascended nearly 

 to the headwaters. The major shad spawning 

 area was between Crows Bluff, Fla., to 10 

 miles south of Lake Harney (Walburg, 1960a). 

 Spawning occurred from late February until 

 mid-April. 



The fishery in 1960 was considerably dif- 

 ferent from that of 1896. The legal commer- 

 cial shad fishing season on the St. Johns River 

 was from November 15 to March 15. There 

 was no closed season on sport fishing for shad; 

 the daily creel limit was 15. The total com- 

 mercial and sport catch of shad was 709,486 

 lb., of which the commercial fishery caught 

 70 percent. On the basis of catch-effort sta- 

 tistics, the estimated weight of the population 

 was 2,199,000 lb., and the total fishing rate 

 was 32 percent. Commercial fishing was pro- 

 hibited south of Lake George (Walburg, 1960b). 



The 1960 commercial fishery operated on 

 widely separated and relatively short stretches 

 of river. At the mouth anchor gill nets were 

 fished both north and south of jetties which 

 extend into the ocean 1 mile. During the 1960 

 season 5,700 yd. of anchor and set gill nets 

 caught 159,700 lb. of shad in this area. Each 

 net was 100 yd. long and 30 to 35 meshes deep 

 and had 5- to 5 1/4-in. mesh. Three drift gill 

 nets fished near Jacksonville caught 22,000 1b. 



18 



