232 REPORT OF COMMISSIOl^ER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Belaicare Bay. — Delaware Bay is the broadest portion ot the estuary 

 of Delaware Eiver, forming an arm of the sea varying in width from 

 4 to 30 miles and is 45 miles in length, covering 600 square miles. Its 

 northern limit is somewhat indefinite and has been the subject of con- 

 siderable contention. For sake of convenience, in this report the head 

 of the bay has been assumed to be at a line drawn from Bombay Hook 

 on the Delaware shore to the mouth of Stow Creek on the New Jersey 

 shore. The channel, which traverses the axis of the bay, is from 30 to 

 50 feet deep and from 1 to 3 miles in width, and on either side there 

 are broad shoals or flats covered by from 5 to 20 feet of water. The 

 water in the bay has about the same density as that in the ocean. 

 The forms of apparatus used are drift nets, stake nets, seines, and ])0und 

 nets, the first named being by far the most important and obtaining 

 over 99 per cent of the total catch. 



The following series of tables shows by States the extent of each 

 branch of the shad fisheries of Delaware Bay during the year covered 

 by this report : 



Tahle showing, by Stales, the number of persons employed in each branch of the shad 

 fisheries of Delaware Bay in 1896. 



Table shotving, by States, the boats, apparatus, etc., employed in each branch of the shad 

 fisheries of Delaware Bay in 1896. 



