SHAD FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 179 



basius and its lisheries will be separately described, leaving for the 

 present a notice of that portion of the bay proper located in Virginia. 



Shad appear to pass up this water-course mainly along the western 

 shore, attracted, doubtless, by the fresh water from the large tributaries 

 entering on that side, over 90 per cent of the total catch being obtained 

 on that shore. If conditions are such that during the early season the 

 waters of the rivers are warmer than those of the Chesapeake, large 

 runs of shad occur up the rivers. But if rains and melting snows send 

 downi cold waters during April and May, then the shad remain longer 

 in the bay and large catches are made there. In this section of the 

 Chesapeake shad are taken almost exclusively by means of pound nets, 

 this being the location of the most extensive pound-net fishery on the 

 Atlantic coast. Within an area 70 miles long and 10 miles wide, cov- 

 ering the western side of the bay and the mouths of the tributaries 

 from the James to the Potomac rivers, there were set in the spring of 

 1896 738 pound nets, worth $185,025, taking 1,638,593 shad, worth 

 $156,950 at local prices. Of the above, 334 nets, taking 566,752 shad, 

 were located in the mouths of the various rivers, leaving 404 nets, with 

 a yield of 1,071,841 shad, as the number on the western shore of the 

 bay proper. 



In the limits of Princess Anne County two pound nets were set in Lynn 

 Haven Roads, in 3 or 4 fathoms of water, one net being set oft" the head 

 of the other. They were very large, the leaders being 327 fathoms in 

 length, with 3f -inch mesh, and the crib 50 by 60 feet with 2^-inch mesh. 

 Fishermen from Norfolk County set two small nets on Craney Island 

 Flats, in Hampton Roads, a short distance west of Elizabeth River. 

 Of the pound nets in Elizabeth City County, 11 were located between 

 Newport News Point and Fort Monroe, and 62 between Fort Monroe 

 and Black River, in from 10 to 18 feet of water. Although not strictly 

 within the legal limits of those waters, it is advisable to list the pound 

 nets between Poquosin Flats and York Spit as in York River, since 

 shad taken in those nets have left the main body and are proceeding up 

 the York. For the same reason those nets between York Spit and New 

 Point are listed as in Mobjack Bay, and the 36 nets on the south side 

 of Rappahannock Spit outside of a line drawn from Windmill Point to 

 Stingray Point, the legal limit of Rappahannock River, are listed as 

 within that stream. 



On the shore of Mathews County, from New Point to Stingray Point, 

 there were 93 nets set in from 10 to 24 feet of water. The remaining 

 234 pound nets on the west shore are located between Rappahannock 

 Spit and Smith Point on the shores of Lancaster and Northumberland 

 counties, in depths of water ranging from 12 to 40 feet. Pound nets 

 are more numerous in this section than on any other portion of the 

 Atlantic coast, there being 87 in 1896, in an area 6 miles long and 3 

 miles wide immediately below Smith Point. These nets were set mostly 

 in strings of 6 or 7 each, but sometimes many more, one string having 

 16 nets. The mesh is generally 4^-inch, but a few nets are constructed 



