North Carolina shad-fishing licenses 

 are sold on a county basis with no indication of 

 which river or body of water the licensee fishes. 

 Under the circumstances it is extremely difficult, 

 especially in the inland section of the Neuse 

 River, to determine the total shad catch. 



difference in week of median catch. It should 

 be pointed out that large numbers of blue crab 

 (CalUnectes sapidus) and menhaden (Brevoortia 

 tyraanus) invaded the lower commercial area 

 the latter part of March and early April, neces- 

 sitating the removal of most fishing gear. 



From the sample of fishermen, the total 

 catch (numbers) and effort (net-days) of the com- 

 mercial and inland sections were estimated. 

 One net -day is defined as a pound net, or 100 

 yards of gill net, or 100 yards of haul seine 

 fished for 1 day. Catch and effort of each type 

 of gear fished in each sector were determined 

 as follows: 



TAGGING EXPERIMENT 



To estimate the total number of shad 

 entering the Neuse River during the 1953 season, 

 303 shad were tagged from pound nets near the 

 mouth of the river between January 7 and March 

 31. Shad were tagged with Petersen disk tags 

 attached below the dorsal fin. A scale sample 



A. 

 B. 

 C. 

 D. 

 E. 

 F. 



Commercial Section 



Number licensed fishermen 

 Number of A in sample 

 Total catch by B 

 Estimated total catch by A 

 Total net -days by B 

 Estimated net-days by A 



Inland Section 



A. 

 B. 

 C. 

 D. 



E. 

 F. 



Number of licensed fishermen 

 Number of A in sample 

 Total catch by B 

 Estimated total catch by A 

 Total net -days by B 

 Estimated net-days by A 



1/ Includes both drift and stake gill nets . 

 TJ Number of days fished not available. 



The catch data obtained in this study 

 were used to estimate the Neuse River shad 

 catch by week and area (table 2). The shad-fish- 

 ing season begins in both areas January 1 and 

 closes May 1 in the commercial area and June 1 

 in the inland area. The season may be lengthen- 

 ed at the discretion of the Commission, as was 

 the case in 1953. The median week of catch for 

 the commercial area was week 8 while the median 

 week of catch for the inland area was week 19. 

 The later fishing season in the inland section 

 appears to be justified on the basis of the large 



was taken from each fish, and fork-length, 

 weight, sex, and date of tagging were recorded. 

 As the tagged fish moved upriver to the spawning 

 grounds, they were subject to recapture by all 

 types of gear. 



Twenty -one tags were returned from 

 areas outside the Neuse River. Assuming that 

 all tagged shad which left the Neuse River 

 were subject to a 50 -percent fishing mortality, 

 the estimated number of tagged shad which left 

 the Neuse River and were unavailable to the fishery, 



