AETIFICIAL PEOPAGATION OP SHAD 463 



an ideal spawning place. Shad are taken occasionally in Monterey 

 Bay, but these are utilized by the fresh markets, for they are here 

 taken when they are not running in large numbers in the rivers. 

 Shad ascend the Sacramento River for 300 miles or more. Here 

 they are caught in bass or salmon nets. Because of the inconven- 

 ience of shipping from this district and ])ccause of the low prices 

 prevailing, extensive fishing here is hardly warranted, and often 

 after the fish are caught they are dumped overl^oard. 



Large numbers of shad fry have been liberated in tributaries of the 

 Gulf of Mexico, but without results. Between 1873 and 1892 sev- 

 eral million fry were experimentally placed in Great Salt Lake, Utah 

 Lake, and Bear Lake, Utah, and from 1884 to 1886, 3,000,000 fry 

 were liberated in the Colorado River at Needles, Ariz., but these ex- 

 periments were unsuccessful. 



The history of the shad fisheries indicates that as early as 1880 

 there had been a marked decrease in the yield from, nearly every 

 river on the eastern coast. This was before the results of artificial 

 propagation had any effect. Following is a summary of production 

 for various years : 



Pounds 



1880 19, 400, 000 



1888 38, 100, 000 



1896 50, .'^>9S, 860 



1908 25, 941,000 



1918-1922 15, 138, 989 



These figures indicate that in recent times the maximum yields 

 were attained in the nineties, and that the catch has since declined 

 below the level of 1880. 



The abundance of the anadi'omous fishes is too easily overesti- 

 mated. Crowding as they do at one particular season into the 

 restricted watercourses of our coastal slopes, they become an easy 

 prey to man's pursuit, and unless the greatest foresight and restraint 

 is exercised in connection "v\nth the fisheries their numbers are likely 

 to diminish rapidly and their complete extinction is perhaps a matter 

 of only a few years. On the Atlantic coast the commercial fisheries 

 are, in many instances, concentrated at or near the mouths of the 

 rivers, this tending to prevent an adequate escapment to the spawn- 

 ing areas in rivers. The erection of dams entirely cuts off large 

 spawning areas, and the destruction of spawn and fry by sewage 

 and other trade and industrial wastes and the large amount of sedi- 

 ment carried by the rivers at flood stage have made heavy drains 

 upon the natural abundance of the shad. In many streams of the 

 Atlantic seaboard the shad have been destroyed entirely by these 

 combined agencies; in the others the number of shad that reach 

 their spa%VTiing areas has been so diminished that natural reproduc- 

 tion is becoming yearly less effective in keeping up the supply. 



COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE 



The shad is one of the most palatable and popular of fishes. Its 

 flesh is rich but not oily, and the roe is considered a great delicacy. 

 Since the days of George Washington and John Marshall "planked 

 shad" has been regarded as one of the most dehcious of dishes for 

 the table. In value, it is the most important fish of the rivers of the 

 Atlantic coast and, next to the Pacific salmon, the most important 



