SHAD FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 165 



{<') The third class of seines, known as drag nets, are used at such 

 phices on the river as may appear most desirable from day to day, 

 no specially prepared seining beach being necessary, the nets being 

 "footed up" in the water. They are used from the mouth of the river 

 up to Pitchkettle Creek, 22 miles above New Berne, and also to some 

 extent in Trent Kiver, near its mouth. The maximum depth of water 

 suitable for operating them is 12 feet for beginning the haul and 4 feet 

 for "footing up" the net. They average in length about 225 yards, and 

 50 meshes deep, the mesh being about 2J inches. Three men and one 

 boat are required for each, the value of the net averaging about $75 

 and the boat $45. It is stated that this form of apparatus was intro- 

 duced here about 1840 by Capt. Isaac Lewis. Their success does not 

 depend entirely on the catch of shad; indeed, that species constitutes 

 but a small portion of the yield, the aggregate yield in 1890 being 4,951 

 roes and 5,095 bucks. The other fish taken are herring, white perch, 

 suckers, pickerel, striped bass, black bass. etc. The. use of these nets 

 is increasing. 



The stake nets in Neuse Eiver are set in 8 to 10 feet of water and 

 in strings of from 30 to 60 nets each on the sides of the channel of 

 the river from Northwest Creek, 5 miles below New Berne, to Great 

 Island, 11 miles above that town. They are about 20 yards long, 10 feet 

 deep, with 5^-inch mesh, and, with the necessary stakes, etc., cost about 

 $115 per hundred. Generally 70 nets are used by each boat, the latter 

 costing about $50 and requiring the services of two men. This is the 

 earliest branch of the shad fishery on the river, the season beginning 

 each year about January 25 and ending about the first week in April. 

 The stake-net fishery is most profitable during periods of high water. 

 In 1896 47 boats engaged in this fishery, using 3,240 nets, and the catch 

 numbered 10,262 roe shad and 12,856 bucks, the local valuation being 

 $3,811. An interdiction exists against this form of fishery, but it is not 

 enforced. Most of the men using stake nets are residents of Carteret 

 and Pamlico counties, hailing from Cedar Island and Hunting Quarter 

 in the former, and from Goose Creek to Bay Eiver in the latter county. 



Drift nets are operated from a short distance above the New Berne 

 wharves to 12 miles down the river. These nets are from 100 to 120 

 yards long, 5i-inch mesh, and cost about $18 each. The season begins 

 about the second or third week of February and closes the first week 

 in May. In 1896 38 drift nets were used, the yield being 8,360 roe shad 

 and 10,125 bucks, with a local valuation of $3,244. 



Notwithstanding an interdiction against pound nets in the Neuse, 

 the employment of this form of apparatus is increasing each year. It 

 was introduced here about 1878, and in 1880 6 were reported. In 1889 

 and in 1890 the regulation against their use appears to have been 

 enforced, no pound nets being reported in the returns for those years. 

 But a few were introduced into the lower part of the river, where local 

 sentiment was favorable, and the evasion of the law gradually extended. 

 In 1896 87 pound nets were set between Trent Kiver and Adams Creek, 



