248 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OP FISH AND FISHERIES. 



net is lifted, the fish removed, and the net is again set at the beginning 

 of the succeeding flood tide. There were but 14 of these nets on the 

 river in 1896, but they were quite successful, the average catch being 

 about 3,000 shad, and another season will doubtless witness an extended 

 use of this form of apparatus. 



Compared with those of the Delaware River, the seine fisheries of 

 the Hudson are of little importance, a single seine on the former stream 

 taking more shad each year than the 40 or more on the Hudson. The 

 seines range in length from 120 to 500 yards, with from 2 to 2^ iuch 

 mesh in the bunt and 4-inch to 5-inch mesh in the wings. The seven 

 operated in the lower 80 miles of the river take few shad, their catch 

 consisting i^rincipally of ale wives and other species. The most exten- 

 sive seine fishery on the river is near Kinston Point, where two seines 

 are operated by steam launches from a scow anchored in the middle of 

 the river, the catch by which in 189G numbered 7,200 roe shad and 4,800 

 bucks — nearly one-fifth of the entire seine catch on the river. The total 

 shad yield of the 41 seines operated in 1896 was 41,757 roes and 26,588 

 bucks, valued locally at $8,991. 



GREAT SOUTH BAY AND GARDINER BAY. 



A few shad are caught incidentally in the pound nets set in Great 

 South Bay, the yield in 31 pound nets set in the spring of 1896 being 

 reported at 196 roes and 168 bucks. This small catch was due to the 

 lateness of the period when the nets were set. 



In the pound nets at the eastern end of Long Island Sound, between 

 Montauk Point and Orient Point, some shad are taken each year. The 

 nets are most numerous in Fort Pond Bay and jS^apeague Bay and along 

 the shores of Gardiner Island. Shad are caught during April and 

 May and are obtained in greatest number on the eastern side of Gardi- 

 ner Island. The total number of nets in 1896 was 105, and their catch 

 of shad numbered 1,600 roes and 2,791 bucks, for which the fishermen 

 received $1,031. 



LONG ISLAND SOUND. 



Most of the shad entering Long Island Sound pass along the north- 

 ern shore of that body of water and enter the large tributaries flowing 

 into it through the State of Connecticut, very few being taken on the 

 New York shore. Of the 74,319 shad caught in this sound and tribu- 

 taries in 1896, 70,288 were taken along the northern shore and in the 

 rivers flowing therein, while only 4,031 were taken along the southern 

 shore. Of the latter, 516 were taken in pound nets near Orient Point, 

 1,738 in Nissecpiague River, and 1,777 in Little Neck Bay. Shad doubt- 

 less run into the other small bays and tributaries along this shore, but 

 in numbers too small to warrant the establishment of fisheries. The 

 shad fisheries of the three sections above noted will be described sepa- 

 rately, while those of the waters tributary to the northern side of Long 



