128 



REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Statement, by water areas, of the boats, apparatus, etc., employed in the shad fisheries of 

 Florida in 1896, 



Statement by apparatus of the yield of shad in the ivaters of Florida in 1S96. 



ST. .JOHNS RIVER. 



St. Johns Eiver has its sources in the swamps and marshes of eastern 

 Florida, Hows nearly parallel with the coast a distance of 375 miles, 

 and enters the ocean near the northeastern corner of the State, It is 

 navigable to a point about 300 miles from the mouth, and steamers 

 ascend regularly as far as Sanford, 230 miles by the river course from 

 the sea. It is very broad, the width in the lower 100 miles being from 

 1 to 5 miles, and for two-thirds of its length it is over a mile wide, 

 often expanding into spacious lakes. There are no permanent obstruc- 

 tions to the passage of fish, and shad ascend nearly to the sources of 

 the river. The St. Johns differs from all other streams on the Atlantic 

 coast of the United States in that its sources are in warmer latitudes 

 than its entrance into the ocean. All the other streams run south and 

 east, and the water flowing therein is much cooler during the winter 

 and spring than the sea water. The effect of this peculiar condition is 

 thus described by the late Marshall McDonald: 



In the St, Johns River, Flotida, shad appear several months before the spawning 

 time, and although this is not largely in advance of the same season in rivers as far 

 north as certain tributaries of the Chesapeake, yet by reason of their early presence 

 in the St. .Johns the fisheries are prosecuted during the entire winter. Tliey do not 

 enter the river at this time for the jiurpose of 8i)awniug. I5y reference to tables giving 



