126 REPORT OF COMMISSIOI^ER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Table showing the number and value of shad taken in 1896, and the number and percentage 

 of those taken in salt ivater. 



St. Johns River 



St. Marys River 



Satilla River 



Altamaba River 



Ogeechee River 



Savannah River 



Combahee River 



Asbepoo River 



Edisto River 



Cooper River 



San tee River 



"Winyali Bay and tributaries 



Cape Kear River 



Pamlico Sound 



Neuse River 



Pamlico-Tar River 



Croatan and Roanoke sounds 



Albemarle Sound 



Roanoke River 



Chowan River 



Pasquotank and Perquimans riv 

 Chesapeake Bay 



James River and tributaries 



York River and tributaries 



Mobjack Bay 



Rappahannock River 



Potomac River 



Nanticoke River and tributaries- . 



Choptank River and tributaries . . 



Susquehanna River 



Miscellaneous 



Delaware Bay 



Delaware River 



Miscellaneous rivers 



Ocean shore of New Jersey 



Kew York Bay 



Hudson River 



Great South Bay and Gardiner Bay. 

 Long Island Sound 



Connecticut River 



Miscellaneous rivers 



Ocean shore of Rhode Island 



Narragansett Bay and tributaries .. 

 Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound. 

 Cape Cod and Massachusetts bays. . 



Casco Bay 



Kennebec River and tributaries 



Penobscot and other Maine rivers . . 



Total 



The preceding' summary shows that in 1896 45 per cent of the total 

 shad yield was caught in regions which half a century ago yiekled 

 none whatever, this in some measure compensating for the 3,700 miles 

 of river course from which they are now wholly excluded and the lengths 

 from which the exclusion is partial. It thus appears that the prin- 

 cipal change in the fisheries during the past tifty years has been one 

 of location rather than extent of the total yield, the great increase in 

 the estuaries compensating for the decrease in the headwaters. This 

 change in the ftshing-grounds results in a large portion of the lish being- 

 taken before they reach the spawning areas in fresh water, thereby 

 preventing them from adding their quota to future supply almost as 

 effectually as though they were excluded therefrom by means of dams 

 or otherwise. But the same result is accomplished when the fish are 

 caught after reaching those areas, and before spawning. Furthermore, 



