50 



FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



76,501 shad, or 301,306 pounds, valued at $60,690, were taken on 

 the New York side of the river and 13,800 fish, or 73,668 pounds, 

 valued at $23,034, on the New Jersey side. 



From the tahle of comparative statistics it will be noted that 

 this fishery reached its lowest level in 1916, not only in the size and 

 value of the catch but in number of men engaged and boats and 

 gear used. Compared with 1916 there was an increase in 1919 of 

 180 fishermen, or 151.26 per cent; of 88 boats, or 125.71 per cent; 

 of 294 gill nets, or 372.15 per cent; of 9 haul seines, or 300 per cent; 

 of 81,014 shad, or 872.33 per cent; and of $78,259 in the value of 

 theproduct, or 1,432 per cent. 



The principal apparatus of capture is the gill net. Of the total 

 number of fish taken in 1915, 98 per cent were caught with gill nets; 

 in 1916, 97 per cent; in 1917, 91 per cent; in 1918, 97 per cent; and 

 in 1919, 98 per cent. Tlie average number of fish taken per gill net 

 for the various jenTs follows: In 1915, 181; in 1916, 114; in 1917, 

 56; in 1918, 247^; and 1919, 242. The value of the factor— that is, 

 the average catch per gill net — as an index to the relative size of the 

 runs of shad in the river is difficult to estimate. If this may be 

 considered a reliable index, then the number of fish entering the 

 river in 1917 was smaller than in 1916 and the runs for 1918 and 

 1919 were markedly larger than for the other years. 



The results of the yearly canvasses are of considerable interest to 

 those interested in the reestablishment of an extensive shad fishery 

 in the Hudson River and in other rivers in which the supply has 

 been seriously depleted as a source of possible light on the effects of 

 protective measures which have been promulgated to afford better 

 protection and to allow more fish to reach the spawning grounds. 



Shad Fishery of the Hudson River, 1919. 



Comparative Statistics of Shad Fishery op the Hudson River, 1915 to 1919. 



