Blackford. — The Shad Problem 11 



The causes of this decline come under two heads : first, 

 the depredations of natural enemies, and second, the 

 agency of man. The fishermen, are prone to attribute a 

 much larger share to the first cause than the facts 

 justify, for although the shad have many and voracious 

 natural enemies to prey on them, there is no reason to 

 believe that these enemies are increasing either in num- 

 bers or in their power for evil. They inflict much in- 

 jury, it is true, for "from their birth to their return to 

 the rivers shad are preyed upon incessantly by other fish, 

 so that the larger portion of the young do not survive 

 their few months sojourn in fresh water, and of those 

 which leave the rivers each season probably not one in 

 one hundred reaches maturity to deposit its eggs and 

 contribute to the perpetuation of its species. In the 

 rivers, striped bass, white perch, black bass, and other 

 predacious fishes devour the young, and when they reach 

 salt water, sharks, horse mackerel, kingfish, etc., un- 

 doubtedly destroy many adults. It has been observed by 

 North Carolina porpoise fishermen that as the shad swim 

 close along the shore the porpoises follow and feed on 

 them until they pass into fresh water."* This condition 

 is, however, a part of the established economy of nature, 

 and there is some reason to believe that these dangers 

 are diminishing rather than increasing. At all events 

 these natural enemies are not new, and they do not ac- 

 count for the decided decline in the numbers of the shad 

 within the past few years. 



This brings us to the consideration of the effects of 

 human agency in the destruction of the fish, and these 

 fall under the two heads of the destruction of the adults 

 and the prevention of spawning. The latter is by far 

 the more injurious. A well developed female will de- 

 posit some 200,000 eggs, and if only a small proportion 

 of these be impregnated, hatch and grow to adult age, 

 the supply will be readily maintained. The mere de- 

 struction of adult fish will have little or no effect on the 





*Manual of Fish Culture Based on the Methods of the United States 

 Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Washington, 1897. Page 136. 



