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sion of the Legislatiire during the past winter, and a 

 bill was introduced which required that shad nets be 

 taken up at sunset Friday night and not fished until 

 sunrise Monday, and it also provided that nets should 

 not be operated by boats propelled b}'^ steam. This 

 amendment was for the purpose of opening the river a 

 reasonable time each week to enable a sufficient number 

 of breeding shad to reach their spawning grounds and 

 keej) up the stock, in case aid from outside sources 

 should fail. The steamboat clause was for the purpose of 

 putting all the fishermen on the same footing. This bill 

 passed the Senate, but was defeated in the Assembly. 



In 1895 unusual efforts were made by this commis- 

 sion to obtain shad eggs in the Hudson, and 3,087,000 

 fry were hatched and planted, and 4,900,000 contrib- 

 uted to the Hudson by the United States Fish Com- 

 mission. From 1883 to 1895, both j^ears inclusive, the 

 state planted in the Hudson 33,522,500 shad fry, and 

 during the same period the United States Fish Com- 

 mission contributed to the Hudson 54,511,000 shad fry 

 from other rivers, or 20,988,500 more than the state 

 was able to supply from the river itself With these 

 figures, taken from the reports of this commission and 

 furnished to me by Commissioner Brice from the books 

 of the United States Fish Commission, as a basis, one 

 can imagine what the condition of the shad fishing in 

 the Hudson would have become had it not been for 

 contributions of fry from the Delaware and Susque- 

 hanna Rivers. This year the shad work of this com- 

 mission is not completed, but the United States Fish 

 Commission has alread}' contributed to the Hudson 

 3,000,000 shad fry from the Susquehanna and 2,000,000 

 from the Delaware. 



Contributions of shad fry from other rivers doubt- 

 less do more than aid to keep up the supply of fish in 

 the Hudson, as the fresh blood must invigorate and 

 improve the stock. 



