174 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



chaiiiiel being very tortuous and the bed of the river interspersed with 

 rocks and islands, most of wliich are submerged at higli water. Above 

 Eton Falls to the head of the river, a distance of 5G miles, the depth of 

 water varies from 2 to 10 feet at low water, and the fall aggregates 146 

 feet, an average of 2.6 feet per mile. This portion of the river is navi- 

 gated only by i^ole boats, and, while a few fish are found in it, there are 

 no established shad fisheries. 



The commercial shad fisheries of the Roanoke are confined to the 

 extreme lower end, from the mouth to Williamston, The forms of 

 apparatus employed are seines, bow nets, stake nets, drift nets, and 

 wheels, named in the order of their importance ; 80 percent of the total 

 yield being obtained by seines. The fisheries are centered principally 

 at Plymouth, Jamesville, and Williamston, in addition to which there 

 are numerous minor fishing stations. 



Eight seines were employed in 1896, with an aggregate length of 

 6,050 yards and valuation of $6,100. Four of these were operated 

 between Plymouth and the mouth of Cashie River, two a short distance 

 above Plymouth, and two at Jamesville, 17 miles from the mouth of the 

 river. The men required to operate these seines numbered 169; 30 

 boats, worth $1,815, were used, and the value of the shore property 

 utilized aggregated $33,247. During the season herein reported the 

 fish were late in coming up the river, resulting in a small catch and 

 low prices. In 1895 one seine caught 11,000 shad in one week, three 

 times as many as were taken in any one seine during the best week in 

 1896. The yield in 8 seines in 1896 was 9ii,3ii9 bucks and 47,440 roes, 

 with a local valnation of $16,043. This large proportion of bucks was 

 due chiefly to the large size of mesh used in stake nets between the 

 mouth of the river and the sea, permitting small fish to pass through. 



The gill-net fisheries of Roanoke River are of little importance, owing 

 to the rapidity of the current and the crookedness of the stream. A 

 string of stake nets is set at the junction of the Cashie River with 

 the Roanoke, near the mouth of the latter. Fifteen 20-yard nets, witli 

 Sf-iuch mesh, were used there in 1806, the catch aggregating 6,100 shad. 

 For a distance of 2 miles above and the same distance below Plymouth 

 18 80-yard drift nets, with 5-inch mesh, were operated in 1896. These 

 required two men each, only one net being used to each boat. The catch 

 was small, approximating 4,000 shad, most of which were consumed in 

 the homes of the fishermen and their neighbors. 



The bow nets used on the Roanoke below Palmyra numbered 435, 

 requiring the services of twice that number of men. These nets are 

 about 20 feet long, 8 feet wide, the bag having about a 5-foot hang. They 

 had a poor season, taking only 13,500 shad, an average of 31 per net. 

 Most of the catch by these nets is used locally. 



In the lower end of Roanoke River a number of wheels are used, 

 their form of construction (for a description of which I am indebted to 

 Mr. John N, Cobb) being somewhat simihir to those on Pee Dee River. 

 The principal difference is that on the Pee Dee the wheels are fixed iu 



