258 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



11,550 shad and 27 gill nets caught 1,500, a total of 10,050, and in 1884 

 that the yield in 12 seines was 39,000 and in 47 gill nets 13,000, making 

 a total of 52,000 shad taken on the Housatonic during that year. In 

 1885 the yield was 50,600; in 1880 it was reduced to 24,800, and in 1887 

 the catch of shad was still further reduced to 12,400. The present 

 fisheries are confined to the use of a few drift nets and seines between 

 the mouth of the river and Birmingham, the annual Jdeld ranging from 

 8,000 to 15,000 in number. The drift nets in 1896 numbered 29, with a 

 total length of 5,640 yards, requiring 29 boats, worth $536, and 34 men. 

 Of these nets, 22 were used by men living on the east side of the river 

 and 7 on the west side. The season began about the middle of April 

 and extended to the third week of June. The catch was not up to the 

 usual quantity, 8,286 shad being taken, of which 4,335 were roes and 

 3,951 bucks. In 1896 there were 5 seines operated below Birnnngham 

 by men living on the Fairfield County side of the river. These range 

 in length from 150 to 250 yards, with from 3 to 5 inch mesh, and require 

 three or four men and one boat for each. The seining season began 

 about a week earlier and closed three weeks earlier than the drift net 

 season. The catch of shad was 812 roes and 780 bucks, making a total 

 of 9,878 shad, worth $2,471, taken on the Housatonic Eiver. 



Bridgeport Harbor^ Pine CreeJc, etc. — In the harbor of Bridgeport, 3 

 miles west of Housatonic Eiver, a few shad are taken each year, most of 

 them being secured in a channel known locally as " The Gut." In 1891} 

 6 men operated 5 drift nets in tluit locality, and took 652 roe shad and 

 365 bucks, valued locally at $285. In Pine Creek, P>lack Kock Harbor, 

 Ash Creek, and several other small streams between Bridgeport and 

 Stamford, there are a few shad taken every season by means of sliort 

 drift nets. Four shad fishermen, with an equal number of boats, are 

 reported from those waters in 1896, using 4 drift nets, the catch in the 

 season extending from April 20 to June 10, numbering 342 roe shad 

 and 227 bucks, worth $139. 



THE SHAD FISHERIES OF RHODE ISLAND. 



The shad caught in llhode Island are taken incidentally in apparatus 

 set es])ecially for other species, excei»t that in Warren Biver 6 men used 

 3 pound nets, worth $920, 3 boats, worth $90, and shore property valued 

 at $120, catching 9,258 shad. The following table shows by water 

 areas the yield of shad in this State in 1896: 



Statement showing, by w<iter areas, the yield of shad in Ithode Island in 1896. 



