river crosses the fall line near Trenton, where 

 a low natural falls limits upstream tidal in- 

 fluence. The gradient of the river bed de- 

 creases as the river approaches the tidal 

 estuary. 



Prior to construction of a dam at Lacka- 

 waxen in the early 1800's, shad migrated 

 regularly to Shavertown, N.Y., on the East 

 Branch and to a short distance above Deposit, 

 N.Y., on the West Branch- -each more than 

 350 miles from the coast (Bishop, 1935). 

 Areas above the Delaware Water Gap served 

 as spawning and nursery grounds. Most im- 

 portant was the stretch of river above Barry- 

 ville, N.Y., including both branches. For 25 

 yr. prior to 1872, no shad was seen farther 

 upstream than Milford, Pa., 30 miles below 

 Lackawaxen (Smiley, 1884). In 1875 the catch 

 at Milford increased. The species reappeared 

 as far upstream as the dam at Lackawaxen 

 in 1876. The dana blocked upstream movement 

 of fish until about 1890 when a fishway was 

 erected in the obstruction and shad again 

 ascended to the headwaters of the river. About 

 1905 the dam was destroyed by ice, and shad 

 had free passage to the entire river. 



The fishery on the Delaware River and 

 tributaries dates back to colonial times, but 

 statistics on production were not available 

 until 1880. The usual and nnost efficient method 

 of taking shad was with seines (fig. 22) and 

 gill nets. The estimated catch in 1880 was 

 1,500,000 lb. (McDonald, 1887d). The catch 

 was 11,740,434 lb. in 1896 of which Delaware 

 fishermen took 1,209,211 lb., Pennsylvania 

 fishermen 2,143,014 lb., and New Jersey 

 fishermen 8,388,209 lb. Drift gill nets produced 

 about 75 percent of the catch, seines about 

 25 percent, and spears less than 1 percent. 

 The tidewater section fronn the head of the 

 Delaware Bay to the fall line at Scudder Falls 

 produced 10,983,027 lb. The upriver section 

 from the fall line to the head of the river 

 yielded 743,575 lb., and the tributaries 13,833 

 lb. 



The shad fisheries of the Delaware River 

 and tributaries in 1896 are reviewed by area. 



Appoquinimink Creek . --This streann is 20 

 miles long and empties into the Delaware 

 River 5 miles below Port Penn, Del., and 46 

 miles below Philadelphia. Two seines, each 



Figure 22.— Binghamton Shad Club haul seine fishery in May 1905 on upper Delaware River. (Photograph courtesy of 



Frank Bowen, Hancock, N.Y.) 



65 



