REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 73 



have been extremely gratifying to fisli-cultnrists, aud perhaps more striking than 

 any previously obtuinecl in this or any other country. 



Among the fishes inhabiting the rivers and coast waters of the Atlantic Slope, none 

 is better known, more important, and more highly esteemed than the shad {Glupea 

 sap'HUssima) and the striped bass or rockfish (Boccus lineatus), the former being a 

 food-fish, pure and simple, the latter combining a gamey disposition with excellent 

 food qualities. These fish are anadromous, entering the fresh water for the purpose 

 of spawning aud passing a large part of the year at sea or in the salt water. Atten- 

 tion will be called to the experimental introduction of these fishes to the west coast, 

 although several other importiint food-fish, among them the black bass {Mlcropterus 

 sahnoides) and catfish (Amelurus nehulostis) might also be mentioned in this connection. 



The introduction of shad fry to the west coast was first undertaken as long ago as 

 1871, when 12,000 young fish were deposited in the Sacramento River, under the 

 auspices of the California Fish Commission. After that the experiment was taken 

 up by the United States Fish Commission and carried on until 1886, during which 

 time 609,000 young shad were placed in the Sacramento River, 600,000 in the Willa 

 mette River, 300,000 in the Columbia River, and 10,000 in the Snake River. 



Two or three years after the first fish were planted a few more or less mature 

 examples were obtained in the Sacramento River; as additional deposits were made, 

 the number of marketable fish began to increase, and the fish gradually distributed 

 themselves along the entire coast of the United States north of Monterey Bay, until 

 finally they have come to rank next to salmon in abundance among the river fishes 

 of the west coast. 



The United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, in his annual report for 

 1887, speaking of the small plants of shad fry made in the Sacramento River at 

 Tehama, says: 



From these slender colonies, aggregating less than 1 per cent of the number 

 now annually planted in our Atlantic Slope rivers, the shad have multiplied and 

 distributed themselves along 2,000 miles of coast, from the Golden Gate of California 

 to Vancouver Island in British Columbia. They are abundant in some of the rivers, 

 common in most of thein, aud occasional ones may be found everywhere in the 

 estuaries aud bays of this long coast line. 



Prior to our experiments ou the west coast it was a dictum of fish-culture that 

 fish planted in a river would return to it when mature for the purpose of spawning. 

 The result of these experiments has been to demonstrate that this instinct of 

 nativity, should it really exist, is in this case dominated by other influences, which 

 have dispersed the shad planted in the Sacramento widely beyond the limits which 

 we had assigned to them, and in the most unexpected direction. 



The cause is probably to be sought in the genial influences of the Japan current, 

 which brings the warmtli of equatorial Asia to temper the extremes of Arctic 

 climate on the southern shore of the Alaskan Peninsula, aud, thence sweeping to the 

 south, carries tropical heats to the latitude of San Francisco. Repelled ou the one 

 hand by the low temperature of the great rivers and fringe of coast waters, and 

 solicited ou the other by the equable and higher temperature of the Japau current, 

 the shad have become true uomads, and have broken the bouuds of the hydro- 

 graphic area to which we had supposed they would be restricted. I'ollowiug the 

 track of the Asiatic current, aud finding more congenial temperatures as they pro- 

 gress, it is uot unreasonable to expect that some colonies will eventually reach the 

 coast of Asia and establish themselves in its great rivers. 



Shad are now found in greatest numbers in the Sacramento and Columbia Rivers, 

 where they are of considerable economic value. Owing to the fact that very little 

 ajjparatus specially adapted to their capture is employed, no correct idea of their 

 actual abundance in a giveu stream eau be formed. Nearly all the shad thus far 

 taken have been obtained in nets operated for salmon or other fish, shad being only 

 an incidental element in the catch. The price received by the fishermen is a good 

 criterion of the abundance of the fish. When first taken, shad brought as much as 

 $1.20 a pound; in 1892 the value in many places was only 2 cents a pound, and in the 

 Columbia River at one period the catch was so large and the price so low that the 

 fishermen did uot go to the trouble of marketing the fish caught. The average price 

 ou the coast has declined in the ])ast fmir years from 10 ceyts jier pound in 1889 to 4 

 cents in 1892. 



