826 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



thousands before us, but we got as many into our trap as it would bold, 

 and then we began to haul them on shore, as fast as three or four of 

 us could, by two and three at a time ; and alter this manner, in half an 

 hour, we could have filled a three-bushel sack of as good and large her- 

 rings as ever 1 saw. And though I speak of herrings only, lest any 

 should think we have little other sorts, we have great plenty of most 

 sorts of fish that ever I saw in England, besides several others that are 

 not known there, as rocks, cat-fish, shads, sheep's-heads, sturgeon." 



There are two features of this extract from Stacy's letter to which I 

 would call your particular attention. One is, the exceeding abundance 

 and tameness of the herring, even in the shallowest waters ; and the 

 '•great plenty" of the other desirable fishes to which he refers. If I 

 am correct in considering the Delaware, both as to its bed and the purity 

 of its waters, as essentially unchanged since Mahlon Stacy's time, then 

 there is reason to believe that possibly by learning the several causes 

 that have led to the diminution of the food-fishes, something practical 

 may be done to repair the loss. It will be noticed that first in the list 

 of those other desirable fishes that the river contained besides herring, 

 Stacy mentions the '' rock." As I have mentioned in my detailed notice 

 of this fish that I consider it to be the worst enemy of the shad (and 

 equally of the herring), may it not be that, subsequent to Stacy's time, 

 a marked increase in the numbers of rock-fish may have been, and is, a 

 powerful cause of the diminution of the shad and herring, rather than any 

 amount of net-fishing or other persecution by man of the breeding-fish ? 

 You know how true it is that pike will soon destroy all the trout of a 

 mountain-brook. It must be remembered, too, that when the fish in 

 the Delaware were so very abundant, the aborigines were thickly settled 

 along its banks, and by nets, pounds, and baskets, caught innumerable 

 thousands of these very shad and herring. Such numbers of rock-fish 

 need not wander the whole length of the river and its tributaries to 

 destroy the shad and herring, but, congregating in the bays and tide- 

 water, destroy the young fish when on their way to salt water, in early 

 autumn. If there be any truth whatever in this suggestion, will not one 

 way to reestablish the desirable food-fishes be, to protect them by 

 destroying, if possible, their enemies, in the way of less valuable fishes! 

 I fear that there is, in the presence of rock-fish, an obstacle to stocking 

 the Delaware with salmon, that will prove to be serious; for, although 

 of late years very large rock-fish have become less abundant, there is 

 no lack of smaller ones, say from eight inches to a foot in length. The 

 second point of interest in Stacy's letter is, his reference to the "cat-fish, 

 sheep's-heads, and sturgeon." The former are too well known to need 

 any note concerning them, but I would incidentally mention that I be 

 lieve that they have very materially declined in size within two ceutu 

 ries. They are apparently dying out, losing ground, giving way to other 

 species; which, I know not. My reasons for this opinion I will give in 

 another paragraph. The fish called by him the " sheep's-head," is of 



