Four types o' ihad-fishing gear are 

 used in the commercial section: stake gill nets, 

 drift gill nets, haul seines, and pound nets. 

 TTie lengths of stake and drift gill nets range 

 from 10 to 100 yards, and their mesh size from 

 4 to 5-1/2 inches, stretch measure. Haul 

 seines average 100 yards in length, with a 

 stretch mesh size of 1-1/4 to 2 inches. The 

 pound nets have one head (pocket) with a lead of 

 from 100 to 200 yards . The mesh size of the 

 head is usually 1-1/2 to 2 inches, while that of 

 the lead is 2 to 4 inches stretch measure. The 

 four types of gear are fished in different areas 

 of this section. Pound nets are used in the low- 

 er area (between Turnagain Bay and Cherry 

 Point), stake gill nets in the middle area (be- 

 tween Cherry Point and New Bern), and haul 

 seines and drift gill nets in the upper area (be- 

 tween New Bern and Pitch Kettle). 



Bow nets, set gill nets, drift gill nets, 

 and haul seines constitute the gears of the in- 

 land fishery. Bow net resembles a large landing 

 net with an oval opening 4 to 10 feet in width and 

 6 to 18 feet in length (fig. 2). These nets are 

 fished either from a stationary platform or from 

 a drifting boat. Set gill nets are similar to the 

 stake gill nets fished in the lower section except 

 that they are tied to trees or anchored instead 

 of being tied to stakes. Bow nets and gill nets 

 are fished throughout the inland area. Haul 

 seines are used in the lower section of this area, 

 mostly in the vicinity of Pitch Kettle. Fish 

 wheels and hog-pen traps are also fished in this 

 sector, but they only take shad incidentally 

 while being fished for other species. The shad 

 catch by these gears is insignificant and will 

 not be considered in this report. 



HISTORY OF THE SHAD FISHERY 



There are few shad-catch records for 

 previous years on the Neuse River or any other 

 river in North Carolina. Stevenson (1899) and 

 Cobb (1906) give the only shad-catch statistics 

 available for individual North Carolina rivers, 

 and these are for the years 1896 and 1904. 

 Stevenson gives a catch of 181,534 shad for the 

 section of the Neuse River between Adams Creek 

 and Contentnea Creek in 1896, and Cobb gives a 

 catch of 33,738 shad for the same section in 1904. 

 This area approximates the commercial-fishing 

 senion of today, from which 98,000 shad were 



caught in 1953. Since there are no other shad- 

 catch statistics available for the Neuse River, 

 no conclusions could be drawn concerning fluctua- 

 tions in catch. The total North Carolina shad 

 catch is available for some years, 1880 to 1952 

 (table 1). Because Neuse River catch records 

 are so meager, the total yearly catch for the 

 entire State is presented to show fluctuations in 

 catch. This catch increased from 3 to 9 million 

 pounds between 1880 and 1897, but after this 

 time decreased, ranging from 2 to 4 million 

 pounds until 1929. From 1929 until 1952 the 

 catch has been close to one million pounds each 

 year. 



1953 SHAD CATCH 



In the spring of 1953, a program was 

 initiated to obtain catch and effort data from the 

 Neuse River shad fishery. Lists of licensed 

 fishermen were obtained from the North Carolina 

 Division of Commercial Fisheries and the North 

 Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. Since 

 the number of fishermen was large, it was not 

 possible to contact all of them ; hence, for each 

 type of gear, a sample of fishermen from each 

 fishery was selected to keep a daily record of 

 catch and fishing effort. 



Unfortunately the number of fishermen 

 sampled in the inland sector was inadequate. It 

 appeared from inspection of the 1952 license 

 lists in the North Carolina Wildlife Resources 

 Commission office that 320 bow nets and 92 gill 

 nets were fished for shad in the counties along 

 that section of the river. The 1953 samples 

 were selected from this 1952 license list. After 

 the close of the 1953 shad-fishing season the 

 current year's license list became available and 

 it was found that 1,183 bow-net and 228 gill-net 

 licenses had been issued in the counties adjacent 

 to the Neuse River. Under the circumstances 

 the data obtained from the inland-sector samples 

 were inadequate and subject to large error, but 

 the results are given as the best estimates avail- 

 able. 



Shad-fishing licenses for the commercial 

 section are issued by the Division of Commercial 

 Fisheries, while licenses to fish in the inland 

 section are sold at designated stores in the counties 

 adjacent to the river. After the close of the shad- 

 fishing season each store's license record Is sent 

 to the wildlife Resources Commission office. 



