408 U, S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



The first shad of the season, in spawning condition, were taken on 

 April 23, and small daily collections of eggs were obtained from that 

 time to May 11, on which date the flood eft'ectually put an end to 

 further fishing. Eggs to the number of 8,597,000 were taken during 

 the short collecting season. Of this number some 94 per cent were 

 hatched, producing 7,958,000 fry of good quality. All of these were 

 distributed on the principal natural spawning areas in the river. 



SHAD AND RIVER HERRING. EDENTON (N. C.) STATION 



[Wm. S. Vincent, Superintendent] 



The work of this station was concerned with two species of com- 

 mercial importance — the shad and the river herring — and it was 

 extended during the year on a small scale to include the j^ellow perch, 

 a species for which there is a strong demand and which supports a 

 commercial fishery of some importance. 



As was the case on the Potomac River, the weather in Albemarle 

 Sound during the spring spawning season was most unpropitious^ 

 and its effect was made evident in the small numbers of fish and eggs 

 taken. With the discontinuance of the former practice of granting 

 permits to a limited number of fishermen to use gill nets on the natu- 

 ral spawning grounds of the shad, the bureau's only source of supply 

 was the Capehart Beach fishery, which resumed operations last spring 

 after a lapse of several years' duration. Operations here were con- 

 ducted on a much smaller scale and with a much shorter seine than 

 in past years, the total capture of shad for the season approximating 

 12,000 fish. Ripe eggs were taken from April 17 to May 8, the 

 season's collections aggregating 7,855,000. Tiiese were incubated 

 with a loss of only 10 per cent, and the resulting fry were planted in 

 suitable places on the natural spawning grounds. 



As the run of herring occurs simultaneously with that of the shad, 

 the fishing operations suffered proportionately from adverse climatic 

 conditions. Between April 15 and May 11, 222,000,000 eggs were 

 obtained from herring taken for commercial purposes, this figure show- 

 ing a shortage of about 30 per cent in the collections as compared 

 with last year. The eggs were not equal in qualit}" to those of the 

 shad, only 50 per cent of them producing fry. 



Egg collections of the yellow perch were taken up in a tentative 

 way during the spring. Some 300 adult fish were acquired by pur- 

 chase from local fishermen and held in confinement until the spawn 

 ripened, some of them being retained in a pond having a natural 

 earth bottom, while others were placed in a wooden crate immersed 

 in the water of a small concrete pond. In each case the fish were 

 allowed to spawn miturally and all of the eggs proved to be of high 

 cjuality. Artificial manipulation of the fish as a means of obtaining 

 eggs was also successfully tried. For this purpose a station emplo3^ee 

 accompanied the fishermen lifting the pound nets used for the capture 

 of fish for the market. Because of the very small number of fish 

 containing ripe eggs this undertaking did not prove profitable, though 

 the small number taken were readily fertilized and incubated with as 

 little loss as on those deposited naturally. A total of 5,460,000 eggs 

 was secured. 



