REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 181 



iugton. He was assisted by Mr. Charles E. Ingersoll, of this division. 

 The fishermen of the river evinced a deep interest in the work, and 

 extended to the agents all possible assistance. The investigation was 

 also fiu'ther facilitated by Mr. S. G. Worth, in charge of the shad- 

 hatching station of the Commission at Fort Washington, Md., who 

 greatly aided Mr. Wilcox in that part of the river. 



The Potomac is one of the most important rivers of the country 

 viewed from the standpoint of the commercial fisheries, and in the 

 extent and value of its shad fisheries it is surpassed only by the St. 

 Johns, Hudson, and Delaware rivers. The shad fisheries of the river 

 have a special interest to this office because of their early importance, 

 their serious decline and threatened extermination in recent years, 

 and their restoration as a result of the artificial propagation carried 

 on by the U. S. Fish Commission. Through the courtesy of the health 

 department of the District of Columbia, this Commission has, for many 

 years, obtained a statement of the number of shad lauded at Washing- 

 ton andother places from the Potomac fisheries, which, with other infor- 

 mation on the subject received from the same and other sources, has 

 furnished from year to year a fairly satisfactory knowledge of the abun- 

 dance of shad; but no systematic canvass of the fisheries had been 

 made since 1880 and there was but little authentic information available 

 regarding the lower course of the river. The actual extent of the other 

 fisheries was unknown for a later year than 1880. 



The canvass showed that in 1890 3,576 persons were directly engaged 

 in the fisheries of this region, of whom 295 were employed in the vessel 

 fisheries and 3,281 in the shore and boat fisheries. 



Thirty-two vessels engaged in dredging oysters during the season of 

 1889-90, and 33 other vessels found employment in running to mar- 

 ket the oysters and fish caught in the shore fisheries; the aggregate 

 tonnage of the vessels was 1,118.78, and the value of these and their 

 outfit was $58,652. Besides those carried by tlie vessels, 1,472 boats 

 were used in the river, having a value of $75,526. The apparatus of 

 capture consisted of 261 gill nets, 376 pouiul nets, 32 seines, 903 fyke 

 and other minor nets, 122 dredges, 1,289 tongs and rakes, the whole 

 having a value of $112,053. The total investment in the fisheries of 

 the river, including shore property worth $18,560, was $294,091. 



The most important single i)roduct of the fisheries of this river is 

 the oyster, which represents about half the proceeds froni the fisheries. 

 During the season terminating in the spring of 1890, 594,629 bushels 

 of oysters were taken l)y fishermen living on the river, and large 

 additional quantities of which no separate record could be obtained 

 were secured by vessels belonging in various ports on Chesapeake Bay. 

 In the following season 498,641 bushels were marketed. The value of 

 the oyster yield was $256,782 the first season and $273,0;)9 the next. 

 Notwithstanding the diminished output in the latter year, amounting 

 to 95,988 bushels, the market value of the catch was $16,257 more, 



