40 



REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Table ahowinij hi/ waters the boats, apparatus, and other property employed in the alewife 

 fisheries — Coutiuued. 



Among the streams of New England in which alewives are taken 

 Damariscotta Eiver in Maine had the largest catch in 189G, followed 

 by the Connecticut, Taunton, Merrimac, St. George, and Penobscot. In 

 the middle Atlantic region the basin of Chesai^eake Bay (in Maryland, 

 Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and District of Columbia) yielded 

 more than half of the entire catch of the United States. Upwards of 

 one-third of the output in this area was taken in the Potomac, which is 

 now the leading alewife stream of the country. Second in importance 

 is the Susquehanna, after which come the Delaware, Rappahannock, 

 Elk, Hudson, Choptank, and Nanticoke. Albemarle Sound with its 

 tributaries ranks next to the Chesapeake in the production of alewives. 

 More than one-fifth of the aggregate catch of the country is obtained 

 in this section. The Chowan, the principal affluent of the sound, has a 

 very large alewife fishery, ranking next to that of the Potomac in 

 extent. 



