CREEL CENSUS CONNECTICUT RIVER SHAD SPORT FISHERY, 

 1957-58, AND ESTIMATE OF CATCH, 1941-56 



by 



Paul R. Nichols and Marlin E. Tagatz 



U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 



Beaufort, North Carolina 



ABSTRACT 



Creel census surveys were conducted by the Bureau of Commercial 

 Fisheries on the Connecticut River shad sport fishery during 1957 and 1958. 

 In 1957 it was estimated that 34,310 shad were caught and kept in 19,901 

 fisherman days, and in 1958 an estimated 38,570 shad were caught and kept 

 in 20,242 fisherman days. In 1958 the catch increased 12.4 percent, and the 

 effort increased 14.1 percent o\er that in 1957. The average catch per fish- 

 erman day (1.7 shad) was identical for bothyears. The estimated sport catch 

 for each year, 1941 through 1956, was determined by ratio estimate between 

 catch at a state-controlled area and total catch for years 1957 and 1958. 



The Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 

 is the primary research agency of the 

 Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Com- 

 mission investigating the Atlantic coast 

 shad fisheries. Objectives are to ascer- 

 tain the causes for the decline in com- 

 mercial yield of American shad ( A 1 o s n 

 sapidissi/iia) from a peak of 50 million pounds 

 in 1896 to a low of 8 million pounds in 

 1950, to determine factors favoring re- 

 covery, and to provide basic information 

 for fishery regulations to obtain maxinnum 

 continuing yields. 



It has been necessary to limit field 

 work each year to specific areas, since 

 funds and personnel have not been suffi- 

 cient for a study of all the major shad 

 runs simultaneously. Field studies to 

 determine factors affecting the abundance 

 of shad in the Connecticut River were 

 begun in 1951 (Fredin 1954) and continued 



in 1956. These studies, in part, indicated 

 that the sport catch was significant and, 

 therefore, a factor to be considered in 

 the management of the fishery. 



Only a limited amount of data were 

 available on the sport fishery. Since 1941 

 the Connecticut State Board of Fisheries 

 and Game has made an annual census of 

 the shad taken and number of anglers at 

 a state -controlled fishing area at Enfield 

 Dam, Suffield, Conn. In 1950 the Branch 

 of River Basins, U. S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, conducted a creel census on the 

 sport fishery in the Willimansett and 

 South Hadley Bridge areas in Holyoke, 

 Mass.' The survey showed that 3,168 



^Unpublished report. U. S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 

 Biological Laboratory, Beaufort, N. C. 



'Mimeographed report. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 

 Branch of River Basins, Boston, Mass. 



