132 REPOET OP COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



conditions of wind and tide, the fisliermeu of certain reaches are pre- 

 vented from operating their nets for several days at a time by reason 

 of the mass of vegetation covering the water. Should the plant spread 

 during the next few years as it has during the past six, drift-net fishing 

 in the Palatka section will necessarily be abandoned. 



From Lake George to Lake Harney. — This portion of the river, known 

 as the Upper St. Johns, consists of a series of connected lakes, the 

 most important being Lakes George, Dexter, Monroe, and Harney. 

 Sanford, a town of 3,000 inhabitants, on the shore of Lake Monroe, is 

 the center of the shad fisheries. This town is practically the head of 

 navigation on the river, daily steamers connecting it with Jacksonville, 

 over 200 miles distant. 



Seines are the principal apparatus used in this section, the only 

 other apparatus employed being a very few drift nets. Of the 127,865 

 shad taken in 189G, 125,248 were obtained in seines and 2,617 by drift 

 nets. An interdiction exists against the use of seines in the lakes 

 forming part of the St. Johns; consequently most of the seine fishing is 

 confined to the channels connecting the lakes. Drift nets can, of 

 course, be used only in the channels, and the extent of the seine fishery 

 there restricts the use of drift nets. 



There were only three drift nets reported from the Upper St. Johns 

 in 1896. Two of these were each 600 yards in length and the third was 

 200 yards long, the mesh in all being 5-inch. The catch numbered 

 1,445 roe shad and 1,172 bucks, valued locally at $355. 



The seines range in length from 200 to 700 yards, 50 to 100 meshes 

 deep, with 3 or 4 inch mesh. They cost from $60 to $300, and require 

 from 4 to 10 meu each, according to the length of the seine and the 

 strength of the current. The 24 seines used in 1896 aggregated 7,150 

 yards in length and $2,175 in value, and required the services of 110 

 fishermen and 50 small boats, worth $1,000, in addition to which 1 

 steam launch, worth $2,000, was used in transporting the fish to San- 

 ford. The catch numbered 33,911 roe shad and 91,337 bucks, valued 

 locally at $8,027. Among the bucks are included 53,807 " skips," which 

 average in weight about 1 pound each. In the early part of the season 

 shad are sold to the Palatka shippers as high as 50 cents each, but the 

 price falls rapidly, and when the season is at its height the price is 

 frequently less than $7.50 per 100. 



ST. MARYS RIVER. 



St. Marys River has its source in the Okefenokee Swamp, whence it 

 forms the boundary line between Florida and Georgia for a distance of 

 175 miles to its entrance into the Atlantic. It is narrow, but deep and 

 tidal nearly the whole length, and is navigable for steamboats as far as 

 Traders Hill, 45 miles from the ocean. There are several small steamer 

 landings on the river, but the only settlement of considerable size is 

 St. Marys, a town of 700 inhabitants on the Georgia side of the river 

 near the mouth. Owing to its proximity to the St. Johns, and the 



