238 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



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

 branch of the shad fisheries of the Delaware Kiver above Scudder 

 Falls dam iu 1896 : 



Nurtiber of persons employed. 



Boats, apparatus, etc., used. 



Number and value of shad caught. 



Most of the available locations on the Upper Delaware are occupied 

 by seine fisheries, and as the last two or three seasons have yielded 

 large returns several abandoned fisheries are being cleaned out and 

 operated. Some of these fisheries are very old, having been operated 

 continuously since the beginning of the present century. Lovett's 

 fishery, in Bucks County, was established iu 1790; Lower Dutch Neck 

 fishery, in 1810; and Badger Island fishery, in the same county, in 

 1812. The yield by the 59 seines in 1896 nnmbered 104,010 roes and 

 04,965 bucks, a total of 169,575, valued locally at $28,841. This yield 

 was unusually large, more being obtained at times than could readily be 

 disposed of, and the price received was the lowest known on the river 

 ior several years. The large run may be due somewhat to the fact 

 that for four or five years preceding there were heavy freshets, which 

 restricted the fishing in the early i)art of the season, thus permitting 

 the shad to reach the upper waters to spawu. 



