THE PRESERVATION OF THE ALEWIFE. 



By David L. Belding, 

 Biologist of the Massachusetts Fish and Game Commission. 



The problems confronting the commercial fisheries offer a 

 most fertile and important field of investigation for economic 

 biology. Unlike the majority, the alewife fishery presents a com- 

 plete problem in itself, and, because it furnishes a splendid illus- 

 tration of the practical value biological study may play in the 

 preservation of a commercial fishery, it has been chosen for the 

 subject of this paper. 



The alewife or branch herring (Pomolobus pseudoharengus) is 

 the most abundant food fish inhabiting the rivers of the Atlantic 

 Coast, from Maine to Florida, and with the disappearance of the 

 shad has become commercially the most valuable anadramous 

 fish in Massachusetts. Ever since the landing of the Pilgrims, 

 when the alweife provided the most readily available source of 

 food for the early inhabitants of New England, it has been closely 

 related to the prosperity of the shore towns, where it has always 

 been held as a public asset. The successful re-establishment of 

 this fishery would benefit the shore towns directly, and indirectly 

 would prove of even greater value to the public. 



The alewife is of value as food, as bait, and as a food supply 

 for other fish. Either fresh or cured, the alewife forms an excellent 

 and inexpensive article of diet. Because of its abundance and 

 comparative cheapness, it is satisfactory as a bait supply. How- 

 ever, of greater importance is the attraction it forms for large 

 schools of pollock, bluefish, striped bass, squeteague and other 

 food fishes, which come to our shores to prey upon the young 

 alewives when they descend the coastal streams. The simulta- 

 neous decline of the alewife and shore fisheries suggests that there 

 is a direct relation between the two, and that the success of the 

 fishing towns along the coast is dependent in a considerable measure 

 upon the flourishing condition of the alewife fishery. 



This paper presents the results of a biological study of the 

 Massachusetts alewife fishery, and the practical application of 

 remedial measures based on this study. 



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