28 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



fresh, and the alewives were disposed of in both a fresh and salted 

 condition, the number salted being 16,827,000, valued at $74,419. The 

 shad catch has declined nearly 50 per cent in quantity since 1897, 

 the number of shad taken that year in the Chesapeake and tribu- 

 taries being 5,341,751. In 1901 the number had decreased to 3,000,544, 

 and in 1904 to 2,950,492. A still further decrease of 26,474 occurred 

 in the past year. This large falling off during these years is obvi- 

 ously due to overfishing and to the fact that the large number of 

 pound nets and other apparatus operated prevent the anadromous 

 species from reaching their spawning grounds, thus seriously inter- 

 fering with both natural and artificial propagation. In Virginia 

 in 1909 there were fished in these waters for shad and alewives 2,043 

 pound nets and 7,121 gill nets, and in Maryland 1,289 pound nets 

 and 5.620 gill nets, the remainder of the gill nets being in Pennsyl- 

 vania and Delaware. The catch apportioned by States in 1909 was 

 as follows: 



State. 



Virginia 



Maryland 



Pennsylvania 

 Delaware 



Total... 



Shad. 



Number. 



1,855,446 



1,000,827 



60, 045 



7,700 



2, 924, 018 



Value. 



8488,336 



272, 869 



22,224 



2,310 



785, 739 



Alewives. 



Number. 



69,469,949 



59,093,300 



25,000 



30, 000 



128,618,249 



Value. 

 $128,375 

 155, 499 

 75 



284,039 



INVESTIGATION OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 



The mackerel investigation, which was begun. in April, 1909, at the 

 request of the Board of Trade and Master Mariners' Association of 

 Gloucester, Mass., representing many of the firms and vessel owners 

 interested in the mackerel fishery, was concluded in October of that 

 year, occupying a period of about six months. The schooner Grampus 

 was detailed for the work, and Capt. Jerry E. Cook, an experienced 

 mackerel fisherman of Gloucester, was in charge pf the inquiry. The 

 vessel was equipped with gill nets and lines for locating the fish and 

 with tow nets for use in detecting the presence of the minute crus- 

 taceans which form the principal food of the mackerel. The object 

 of the inquiry was chiefly to determine the movements of the mack- 

 erel, which usually make their first appearance on the American coast 

 in the spring off Cape Hatteras and gradually move northward to 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to locate any bodies of mackerel that may 

 frequent grounds remote from those cruised over by the fishermen, 

 and also to assist the mackerel fishermen by furnishing them with 

 information as to the schools of mackerel seen and their location and 

 movements. 



It is thought by some fishermen that the introduction of purse 

 seines and gill nets in the fishery, replacing hooks and lines and a 



