1036 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [2] 



Wheii we hauled the nets yesterday morning we found that the sea 

 and tide had parted the head rope of one of those off Smith's Point. 

 This left the whole string to swing free with the tide to one mooring (a 

 C0-i)ound boat anchor), and the consequence was that the nets dragged 

 over the bottom, catching some oysters in the twine, and finally drove 

 afoul of the anchor and anchor-line, with which they became so badly 

 entangled that two of them, the two best fishing nets we had, were very 

 much torn, and another, which we have since repaired, had the cork- 

 line parted and was also torn considerably. It is i)ossible that we maj' 

 be able to partially repair one of the others, a fine-twine shad-net, but 

 it is somewhat doubtful. Last night we set four nets off the southern 

 end of Tangier Island, but found nothing in them this morning except 

 sea- weed and grasses, with which they were literally filled. The tide 

 runs very strong in all the localities we have visited so far, and I find 

 that setting gill-nets at anchor is anything but an exact science. I 

 have endeavored, as much as possible, to "lay out"' the apparatus par- 

 tially across the current, and so as to intercept any fish coming in or 

 going out of the bay, rivers, and sounds, but in most cases this has not 

 been even i)artially successful, the tide sweeping nets, boat, and all in 

 whichever direction it chanced to run. The distance at which the nets 

 are set from the bottom is also very much affected by the swift running 

 water, and, even with the greatest care, nothing like definite results can 

 be arrived at. I will add that for this work it will be necessary to have 

 some new shad-nets, and that they should be hung to stouter lines, so 

 that they can sustain the strain that is brought to bear on them. I 

 would also mention that I was somewhat deceived about the nets. 

 Several of those that were put down on the list as shad-nets I find are 

 whitefish-nets, and others that we took aboard from the navy-yard, and 

 which I understood were for cod, are also whitefish-nets. A long, fine- 

 twine shad net we took from the armory, and a large mackerel-net, 

 though, perhaps, strong enough for ordinary purposes, have been used 

 considerably, and were hardly fit to bear the extraordinary strain, wear 

 and tear to which they must be subjected in these experiments. Those 

 are the nets which were torn so badly off Smith's Point during the 

 storm. As the case now stands we have a surplus of whitefish-nets 

 (eleven in number), but a sad lack of shad-nets, upon which, of course, 

 in an investigation of this kind, we chiefly depend. However, I think 

 we will be able to tell pretty definitely whether or not there are any fish 

 in the bay. The dredgings have shown but little to attract fish, and 

 scarcely anything has been caught in the surface tow-net. In fiict I am 

 firmly convinced that there are no fish in the waters we have visited, 

 except at Barren Island, where the beam-trawl brought up young men- 

 haden, young alewives, and other young fish not yet identified. 



I have made a list of the nets, by which each has a number and a 

 corresi)onding mark. Under the number on the list the length, depth, 

 and size of mesh are given. By this arrangement we need only to make 



