68 



TT. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



suits of actual canvasses of the fisheries given for such years as they 

 were taken. In addition to this, a curve of the number of shad in- 

 spected in the District of Columbia from 1873 to 1920, inclusive, is 

 also shown in Figure 4. For the period 1873 to 1896 Stevenson ^ 

 states these represent from 50 to 75 per cent of the total yield of the 

 river. 



From the following table of the number of shad inspected in the 

 District of Columbia from 1897 to 1920, inclusive, it will be observed 

 that beginning with 1908 there were considerable receipts of fish in 

 January and February, indicating receipts from sources other than 

 the Potomac River. It is believed, however, that the curve furnishes 

 a fairly reliable index of the fluctuations in catch over the period in 

 question, and this is borne out by the closeness with which it follows 

 the curve of the number of shad taken in the river in those years for 

 which statistics are available. 



Number of Shad Inspected in the District of Columbia from 1897 to 1920 



Inclusive. 



Year. 



1897. 

 1898. 

 1899. 

 1900. 

 1901. 

 1902. 

 1903. 

 1904. 

 1905. 

 1906. 

 1907. 

 1908. 

 1909. 

 1910. 

 1911. 

 1912. 

 1913. 

 1914. 

 1915. 

 1916. 

 1917. 

 1918. 

 1919. 

 1920. 



January. 



2,587 

 1,027 



708 



1,354 



34 



658 

 (2) 

 (') 

 (2) 

 (2) 

 (') 

 (') 



February. 



9,007 

 6,190 

 6,948 

 5,660 

 2,330 

 5,898 



(2) 

 (2) 



March. 



190,593 



34,558 



6,451 



21,170 



12,656 



2,363 



34,437 



6,615 



5,980 



1,208 



65,983 

 74,318 

 109,211 

 80, 928 

 53, 237 

 43,229 



(2) 

 (') 

 {') 

 (') 

 (2) 



April. 



May. 



22,794 

 66,986 

 43, 146 

 39,817 

 46,565 

 61,748 

 36,989 

 15,788 

 8,114 

 8,856 

 48,926 

 22,540 

 25,849 

 25,152 

 73,180 

 103,354 

 31,503 



June. 



Total. 



397,085 

 272,047 

 284,821 

 235,209 

 172,946 

 181,108 

 184,444 

 138, 136 

 118,768 

 76,638 

 118,781 

 201,414 

 121,916 

 266,897 

 396,215 

 431,356 

 190,009 

 131,958 

 126,013 

 238,518 

 219,886 

 188,259 

 390,590 

 267,442 



' Includes 90 shad inspected in October. 



2 Monthly records not shown. 



HISTORY, 



A study of the graph reveals that the fishery for shad in the Potomac 

 has fluctuated greatly. Even in the period from 1866 to 1880 the 

 fluctuations were surprisingly large, the catches for 1867 and 1873 

 exceeding 1,250,000 fish, with much smaller catches in the inter- 

 vening years. Following 1873 the catch steadily declined until in 

 1878 it was only slightly in excess of 160,000 fish. Of this early 

 period it is stated : ^ 



The fisheries of this river annually decreased in value and production up to the 

 time of the war. The intermission which then ensued in the fishing operations on 



»The Shad Fisheries of the Atlantic Coast of the United States, by Charles H. Stevenson, in Report 

 of the Coniniissioner, U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries, for 1898 (1899), pp. 101 to 269. rSeep.200 

 for table offish inspected.] y J, fi' iQcey.^w 



« The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States, by George Brown Goode and associates. 

 Section V, History and Methods of the Fisheries, Vol. 1, 1887, p. 645. 



