80 yd. long, caught an estinnated 1,490 lb. of 

 shad in 1896 (table 34), 



Christiana Creek . --This strean-i forms the 

 harbor of Wilmington, Del., and is navigable 

 for 8 miles. Above Wilmington were several 

 dams. Six seines averaging 50 yd. long took 

 an estimated 9,789 lb. of shad; four drift nets, 

 each 120 yd. long, caught an estimated 2,554 

 lb. in 1896 (table 34). 



Delaware River belowScudder Falls . - - In the 

 tidal portion of the river, 414,044 yd. of drift 

 net and 45 seines were used in 1896. Of the 

 total yardage of drift gill net fished, 80,767 yd. 

 were fished by 164 Delaware fishernnen, 64,670 

 yd. by 340 Pennsylvania fishermen, and 268,607 

 yd. by New Jersey fishermen. Drift gill nets 

 in the lower portion of this section averaged 

 800 yd. long, and those in the upper portion 

 200 to 300 yd. long. The drift net catch was 

 8,759,188 lb. (table 34). The seines were 

 used fronn the head of Delaware Bay to the 

 falls above Trenton, of which 4 were in Dela- 

 ware, 15 in Pennsylvania, and 26 in New 

 Jersey. The seine fishery in the lower part of 

 the river below Fort Delaware took few shad 

 because their catch was incidental to that of 

 other species; the yield of eight nets in this 

 area was about 16,000 lb. Seines above Fort 

 Delaware were more productive; their total 

 catch was about 2,207,839 lb. 



Scudder Falls to the Headwaters .- - The 1896 

 shad fishery above tidewater was more ex- 

 tensive than in any similar area of any river 

 of the United States. It extended 140 miles 

 from Scudder Falls to Lackawaxen, but was 

 most extensive in the 40-mile section of river 

 just above Scudder Falls Dam. With the ex- 

 ception of one drift net, which took 4,000 lb. 

 a short distance above the falls, seines and 

 spears were the only gears. Most of the 

 available locations on the upper Delaware 

 were occupied by seine fisheries which took 

 717,829 lb. (table 34), Spears, used mostly at 

 Lackawaxen dam, took 21,745 lb. 



Shad entered the Delaware River in 1960 in 

 the latter part of March and remained until 

 early June. A few shad ascended the river at 

 least to Lackawaxen, 296 miles from the coast, 

 and probably spawned in that vicinity. In May 

 1944, biologists of the Fish and Wildlife Serv- 

 ice found the greatest concentration of eggs 

 above Lackawaxen, Pa.; none was located 

 below Lumbertville, Pa. Live shad eggs and 

 newly hatched fry were found in 1945 only at 

 the mouth of the Lackawaxen River (Ellis, 

 Westfall, Meyer, and Platner, 1947). 



Gill nets (5-in. or longer mesh) were the 

 only commercial gear in the Delaware River 

 in I960. Five stake nets and 10 drift nets were 

 fished from the mouth of the river to Delaware 

 City, Del. The catch was 8,000 lb., of which 

 2,000 lb. were taken in 800 yd. of drift gill net 

 and 6,000 lb. in 1,150 yd. of stake gill net. In 



addition to the commercial yield, about 2001b. 

 were taken incidentally in crab nets and by 

 hook and line near Wilmington. 



TRENDS IN PRODUCTION 



Statistics on the shad catch in Delaware are 

 available for certain of the years, 1880-1960 

 (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1958-61). 

 Annual yield for 9 yr. in 1880-1901 was more 

 than 1 million pounds; peak production of 

 nearly 2 million pounds was in 1896. Produc- 

 tion declined to 87,000 lb. by 1921. The annual 

 production remained low in 1921-60; the record 

 low of 3,000 pounds was in 1957 (table 36). The 

 I960 catch was slightly more than 2 percent 

 of the 1896 take. 



The Delaware River and Bay produced about 

 70 percent of the total Delaware catch in 1896, 

 the Nanticoke River about 11 percent, and 

 tributaries to the Bay and river about 19 

 percent. 



In 1960 the Delaware River and Bay produced 

 more than 98 percent of the total catch, the 

 Nanticoke River less than 2 percent, and trib- 

 utaries to the Bay and river less than 1 per- 

 cent. 



The principal shad fisheries of Delaware 

 have changed little from the operations prior 

 to 1900, except a decline in size of catch. With 

 minor exceptions, the same gear and locations 

 are fished. The causes for the decline in 



Table 36. --Shad catch for certain years, 

 ftelaware, 1880-196ol 



[In thousands of pounds] 



^ Statistics 1880-1959, U. S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service (1958-61). 



66 



