10 American Fisheries Society 



pounds, valued at $275,422; in 1907, this had risen to 

 17,329,037 pounds, valued at $463,813, while in 1915, the 

 catch aggregated but 6,168,669 pounds though it was 

 valued at $849,527. Within thirty-five years the value 

 of the catch had increased nearly four hundred per cent 

 for approximately the same quantity, while after a de- 

 cided increase, the catch declined nearly sixty per cent 

 during the eight years from 1907 to 1915, though its 

 money value had nearly doubled. The tremendous catch 

 of 1907 was due in part to an unusually large run of fish, 

 but mainly to increased zeal in fishing, as a result of 

 which larger numbers are taken and the number of fish 

 allowed to spawn is correspondingly diminished. With 

 a diminishing supply, the price has advanced and still 

 greater energy put forth in taking the fare, so that the 

 same vicious circle is established that has led to the prac- 

 tical extermination of the sea otter, the fur seal, the 

 whale and the bison. The sturgeon is going the same 

 road, and with these examples before us, it is time that 

 some steps be taken to preserve the shad from a like fate. 



That this condition is not confined to the Chesapeake 

 Bay is shown by the fact that the catch of shad in the 

 Hudson River in 1915 in the two states of New York and 

 New Jersey together, amounted to 15,855 fish, weighing 

 68,668 pounds, and valued at $8,643, while in 1916, there 

 were taken 9,287 fish, weighing 40,173 pounds, and worth 

 $5,465. On the Pacific side the first stage of this disas- 

 trous progress is well under way, for "the catch of shad 

 has been increasing greatly the past few years, not be- 

 cause there are more shad, but because of the Chinese de- 

 mand for salt shad, and the later demand for canned shad 

 and for the fresh fish in the eastern markets. The run is 

 in fact decreasing, and was this year estimated at about 

 sixty per cent of the average run."* Since the same 

 condition obtains on both coasts it is not therefore an 

 exaggeration to call this a national problem. 



^Personal letter from N. B. Seofield, of the California Fish and 

 Game Commission, dated September 9, 1916. 



