252 



REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



were 48 nets and the catch numbered 69,900, while in 1887 the number 

 of nets was 46 and the yield of shad 01,950. Pound nets were set in this 

 section for the first time in 1849. The largest catches were made from 

 1863 to 1871 and from 1875 to 1880. During 1872, 1873, and 1874 adverse 

 legislation restricted the use of these nets to three days in the week. 



The following summary shows the number of shad taken annually 

 during a series of years in a single pound net located at Money Point, 

 about G miles west of the mouth of the Connecticut Eiver, the location 

 being the same each year : 



a Law restricted fishing to three days in each week. 



6 Net very much injured by jelly-fish. 



Between Hammonasset Point and New Haven Harbor there were 15 

 pound nets set in the spring of 1896 for menhaden and other species, 

 which yielded 724 roe shad and 864 bucks. Of these, 206 roes and 285 

 bucks were taken in one net near the mouth of Farm Eiver, whereas in 

 1895 943 shad were taken in 3 nets set in the same locality. In 1886 

 there were 27 nets between Hammonasset Point and New Haven har- 

 bor, which yielded 10,300 shad, while in 1885 30 nets in the same 

 locality caught 18,200. In 1887 there were 38 nets in the locality 

 named, and the yield of shad was 9,300. The only apparatus which was 

 operated on the Connecticut shore west of New Haven Harbor in which 

 shad are reported to have been caught, was 1 pound net at Welch Point, 

 near the town of Milford, which yielded 177 shad in 1896 and 189 in 

 1895. 



THAMES RIVER. 



This river is really an estuary of Long Island Sound, extending 15 

 miles northward to Norwich, where it receives the waters of the She- 

 tucket and Yantic rivers. Its width varies from a quarter to half a 

 mile, except that near the mouth it is a mile or more wide, forming the 

 excellent harbor of New London. On both the Shetucket and Yantic 

 rivers there are numerous dams extending to within a short distance of 

 their entrance into the Thames, forming complete barriers to the ascent 

 of fish. Previous to 1880 a considerable number of shad were caught 

 in Thames Eiver, the yield during the height of the season being 

 several hundred daily, but during the past ten or fifteen years very few 

 have been taken. In 1885, 300 were reported; in 1886, 45; in 1887, 27; 

 and in 1888 only 4 were caught, while in 1889 and 1890 there were none 

 reported; in 1891, 2 were taken, and in 1893 there was 1, and since 

 that year no shad have been reported from this river. 



