In past years, pollution in some areas from 

 domestic and industrial wastes killed spawn 

 and fry and was thus a major factor in re- 

 ducing shad abundance in South Carolina (Cable, 

 1944); obstructions that prevented adult fish 

 from reaching spawning grounds also received 

 much blame. Pollution and dams undoubtedly 

 played a part in the decline, but their effects 

 were obscured by overfishing. Lunz, Penney, 

 and Lesesne (1944) pointed out that overfishing 

 was the chief cause of depletion; in some areas 

 pollution played a part. Pollutants were do- 

 mestic sewage and waste materials from pulp 

 nnills, fertilizer factories, and other industrial 

 plants. Young shad killed by pollution while 

 enroute to salt water often littered the slips 



and the water under the docks in the Sampit 

 River. 



Rehabilitation programs by the South Caro- 

 lina State Board of Fisheries have failed to 

 increase production to former levels. Restric- 

 tive measures were introduced governing the 

 amount and kind of gear and time of fishing, 

 and a 5-cent tax was levied on each shad 

 caught to finance the cost of annual pro- 

 duction estimates. In the last 3 decades, 

 commercial production has remained at a 

 low level and in only 5 yr. has it exceeded 

 100,000 lb. The commercial catch in 1960 

 increased over that of any of the previous 

 5 yr., but was less than 24 percent of the 

 catch in 1896. 



SHAD FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



There are few early records on the shad 

 fisheries of North Carolina besides McDonald's 

 () 887b) report on the fishery in certain areas 

 in 1880 and Stevenson's (1899) description by 

 water area in 1896. The catch in 1896 was 

 8,842,708 lb.; gill nets took 49 percent, seines 

 25 percent, pound nets 23 percent, and bow 

 nets and fish wheels 3 percent. 



In I960 the total shad catch was 1,266,328 

 lb., of which gill nets took 66 percent, pound 

 nets 10 percent, bow nets 20 percent, haul 

 seines 3 percent, and miscellaneous appa- 

 ratus (fish wheels, fyke nets, rod and reel) 

 1 percent. 



The catch and amount of gear fished by 

 water area in 1896 and 1960 are listed in 

 tables 20 and 21. The yardage of drift gill 

 nets fished in I960 was more than twice that 

 in 1896 (The increase was primarily in the 

 Pamlico- Tar River and Cape Fear River 

 tributaries.), but the catch by drift gill nets 

 in each major river was smaller than in 1896. 

 The yardage of stake gill nets and anchor gill 

 nets and the catches in these gears also were 

 lower in I960 than in 1896. The use of pound 

 nets has de^, ined in North Carolina since 1896 

 because of increased gear cost, operating ex- 

 pense, and decrease in catch of other species. 

 Changes in the amounts of gill net and haul 

 seine fished have also been influenced by the 

 catch of other species since shad usually are 

 taken incidental to other fish. The bow net 

 fishery has remained nearly constant in num- 

 ber of nets fished and in catch. 



FISHERIES BY WATER AREA 



The fisheries of North Carolina are divided 

 into coastal and inland areas. The coastal 

 fishery is under the jurisdiction of the Division 

 of Commercial Fisheries, North Carolina 

 Department of Conservation and Development, 

 and the inland fishery is under the jurisdiction 

 of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Com- 



mission. A map of coastal North Carolina is 

 shown in figure 10. 



In I960 the legal fishing season for shad 

 was from January 1 to May 1 in the coastal 

 area and from January 1 to June 1 in the in- 

 land area. Few shad were taken in January 

 and February, and they did not appear in sub- 

 stantial numbers until mid-March. The coastal 

 area catch in I960 was 701,544 lb.; the inland 

 area catch, 564,784 lb. Most of the catch was 

 handled by dealers who shipped the fish to 

 northern markets. The remainder was taken 

 home or sold locally by fish markets and 

 peddlers. 



Cape Fear River and Tributaries 



The Cape Fear River is formed by the con- 

 fluence of the Haw and Deep Rivers in Chatham 

 County, N.C. It flows southeast for 200 miles 

 and empties into the ocean 25 miles below 

 Wilmington, N.C. The principal tributaries are 

 the Black and North East Cape Fear Rivers, 

 both important shad streams. The Brunswick 

 River leaves the Cape Fear 4 miles above 

 Wilmington and re-enters 5 miles below the 

 city. A 3-mile long thorough-fare connects 

 the Black with the Cape Fear 5 miles above 

 their confluence. 



In 1896 shad ascended the Cape Fear River 

 181 miles to Smiley Falls, N.C. During that 

 year 113 drift gill nets, 150 to 425 yd. long, 

 were used from the mouth of the Cape Fear to 

 the junction of the Black; above this junction 

 124 bow nets, 99 drift nets, and 5 seines were 

 operated. In the Black 21 seines and 60 bow 

 nets were fished; most fish were taken be- 

 tween Point Caswell and Clinton, N.C, and on 

 a tributary stream, the Six Runs Creek, below 

 the Clinton and Warsaw Railroad Bridge. The 

 principal fishery on the North East Cape Fear 

 River was a seine fishery between Sandy Hill, 

 N.C, 30 miles above the tributary mouth, and 

 Kornegay, N.C, a distance of 83 miles. The 



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