472 



U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



and plant the fry by the carload, and by 1884 shad culture was estab- 

 lished on a large scale, barge operations were abandoned, and the work 

 conducted on shore. The basins of the Chesapeake Bay and Dela- 

 ware River had meanwhile been selected by the United States com- 

 mission as the natural seat of operations, though the State commisions 

 from Massachusetts to South Carolina were actively engaged on their 

 own account. At the present time Maryland and Connecticut are 

 the only States actively engaged in shad culture. 



Every river on the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts southward 

 has been examined by the agents of some State commission or the 

 United States, or by both, in order to determine the natural spawn- 

 ing grounds of the shad. On nearly every stream hatcheries have 

 been operated at one time or another, but usually eggs were not 

 obtained in sufficient numbers to justify continued operations. 



In certain river stretches, apparently favorable, no ripe fish were 

 found; for example, in the Roanoke River for 15 miles above its 

 mouth, where 10,000 to 15,000 shad were taken annually, mature 

 eggs were not found, though the fish were spawning just below there, 

 as they did many miles above at Weldon. In the Sutton Beach 

 seine, the one in North Carolina waters that had afforded the most 

 spawn, only about one spawning shad to each 100 was caught, and 

 the annual catch of this seine was 30,000 to 75,000 per annum. In 

 view of such facts, it is not remarkable that difficulty has been 

 experienced and time consumed in deciding on permanent locations 

 for hatcheries. 



The spawning period varies widely in different seasons; in some 

 years shad are numerous and in spawning condition two or three 

 weeks after the time when they have ordinarily disappeared. They 

 deposit eggs at some point along the coast for six contmuous months. 



The following streams have been occupied by hatcheries, as two of 

 them are now, and it will be observed that the approximate spa\vn- 

 ing periods, beginning early in the South, become gradually later 

 toward the North. 



The more important points at which the Bureau of Fisheries has 

 conducted shad-cultural operations in the past are at Battery Island, 

 near the mouth of the Susquehanna River, and at various points on 

 the Delaware River, principally at Gloucester N. J. 



SUSQUEHANNA RIVER 



The shoal water in the neighborhood of Battery Island was an ex- 

 tensive and valuable spawning ground. The station was conveniently 

 located on the island and the possibilities for co;g collecting appeared 

 to be ahnost unlimited. Hundreds of gill-net fisheimen were engaged, 



