142 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Had all other fisheries furnished an equal percentage of eggs, the 

 annual Potomac collections would have reached about 300,000,000. 

 But while the Fort Washington seine, with a catch of 10,000 shad, gave 

 20,000,000 eggs, and another, capturing 18,000, gave 17,000,000, a third 

 catching 60,000 shad, gave only 1,000,000. 



Eggs taken by gill fishermen are usually superior to those from seines, 

 and the gillers attach enough value to the market for eggs to save 

 almost all within reach. At the commencement of the season many of 

 them secure spawning-pans, which they keep in their boats, taking and 

 fertilizing the eggs themselves, and when accidentally overlooked by 

 the regular spawn-takers they sometimes row several miles to bring- 

 in pans of eggs. In 1896 a giller who laid out his net with the special 

 object of securing spawning shad, caught 3,300 fish and sold over 

 6,000,000 eggs to the Commission. About 1,100 of his fish were roe 

 shad; of the total, about 6 per cent were ripe; of the 1,100 roe, about 

 20 per cent were ripe. 



The average catch of shad by the gillers who suj)ply eggs is 1,600 to 

 1,800 per season; but they do not all operate specially for the capture 

 of spawning fish, though this work is profitable and gillers are fast 

 turning attention to it. The Fort Washington gilling boats furnish on 

 an average about 1,000,000 eggs each a season, those at White House 

 400,000, Sandy Bar 350,000, Greenway 300,000, and Craney Island 

 150,000, the average being about 500,000 per boat. 



Susquehanna Fiver. — The shoal water in the neighborhood of Battery 

 Station is an extensive and valuable spawning-ground. The station 

 is conveniently situated on an island and the possibilities in egg- 

 collecting appear to be almost unlimited. Hundreds of gill fishermen 

 are engaged and large seines are operated within easy distance. In 

 1886 the station was overrun with eggs; 170 universal hatching-jars 

 and 58 cones would not contain them, large numbers being held in 

 cylinders, buckets, and pans. In 1888 over 105,000,000 were taken, 

 and in 1889 7,600,000 were obtained in one night. Both egg- collecting 

 and hatching are carried on, and the establishment is complete in itself. 

 There is no transfer of the eggs except for occasional car shipments, 

 and the fry are carried to Havre de Grace in 10-gallon cans for railroad 

 transfer to the places of deposit. 



The collections at this station amounted to 45,983,000 eggs in 1896 

 and 71,000,000 in 1897. 



DelauHire River. — The steamer Fish Hatch has been employed in shad- 

 hatching on this river nearly every season since 1887, the egg-collecting 

 and other labor being performed by the crew. An interesting feature of 

 the work is the large yield of eggs per fish. Eggs from this river have 

 been saved regularly since 1887 from seines, but the avaihible product 

 among the gill fishermen has never been fully ascertained. 



The eggs collected by the Msh HaicJc numbered 37,8(4,000 in 1896 

 and 66,708,000 in 1897. 



