XXIV.-THE PROPAGATION AND DISTKIBUTION OF SHAD IN 1878. 



By James W. Milner. 



A— STATION ON ALBEMARLE SOU^^D. 



Encouraged by the success of the ajiparatus devised by Mr. T. B. 

 Ferguson, Commissioner of Fisheries of Maryland, for hatching shad in 

 tidal waters, it was decided that a renewed experiment should be made 

 in the waters of tlie Southern States with the improved method. The 

 floating boxes had proved inadequate and unsatisfactory in waters with- 

 out current. 



The region of the numerous fisheries in Albemarle Sound was selected 

 for the point of operations. These, numbering in all about forty, are 

 located on the shores of the sound, principally in the northern and 

 western region and the mouths of the Chowan and Eoanoke Rivers, and 

 employ seines from five hundred to twenty-five hundred yards in length. 

 Most of these employ horse-i)Ower for hauling in the seines, although 

 several are fitted with fine steam-engines. They are considered as an im- 

 portant part of the plantations and estates upon which they are situated, 

 and a very considerable amount of cni»ital is invested in the enterprise. 

 The preparation of the shore alone is an expensive operation, emj)loying 

 many men, diving experts, and explosives, to clear off the snags, cypress 

 knees, and stumps which are found in the shallower portions of the 

 water. 



The fishing for shad and alewives or herring oi'diuarily begins in 

 March and lasts to the 1st of May, the lower fisheries cutting out sev- 

 eral days before the u])per ones. Fishing is continued from midnight 

 Sunday evening until midnight Saturday. The fishing in this locality 

 has hitherto been confined almost exclusively to the seines, although of 

 late years pound-nets, or "dutch nets," as they are called in this locality, 

 have been introduced. Pamlico Sound, which is adjacent, is also an 

 extensive fishing region. 



The nets visited by our steamers extended from Colerain, on the Cho- 

 wan, to Drummond Point, on the northern side of the sound, and to 

 Jamesville on the Eoanoke, something like thirty fisheries being thus 

 available. 



The barges fitted up and used the previous year by Maryland, con- 

 taining the improved machinery for shad-hatching, were, with the ma- 

 chinery, purchased by the United States commission from the Maryland 



commission and put in working order. On the 19th day of March the 



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