20 American Fisheries Society 



states have at last been forced to realize this truth, be- 

 cause of the gradual decline of many varieties of our fish, 

 especially the shad, herring and crab. Until very re- 

 cently practically no protection was given in either state 

 to these fish, and the result is what might have been ex- 

 pected. Both states permitted the taking of them at all 

 times and in practically any manner. 



No species of fish was at one time more important to 

 the entire Atlantic Seaboard than the shad, and none 

 whose preservation so immediately concerns a larger 

 number of persons. When we consider the fact that the 

 waters of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries for- 

 merly teemed with this most valuable fish, and furnished 

 at least forty per cent of the output of the entire Atlan- 

 tic Coast, we realize how important it is that Maryland 

 and Virginia should use every effort not only to conserve 

 our present supply, but, if possible, to cause our waters 

 to become replenished with as an abundant supply as 

 formerly. 



A little study of the habits of these fish while in the 

 Chesapeake Bay will convince anyone how necessary it is 

 for the two states to co-operate in protecting them. They 

 enter our waters annually solely for the purpose of 

 spawning, making their appearance in the lower Chesa- 

 peake Bay about the first of April and proceed up the 

 bay and up the rivers to their spawning grounds. Their 

 spawning period is over about the middle of June, when 

 they disappear from our waters and are seen no more 

 until the following Spring. 



It is evident that if the supply of this fish is to be main- 

 tained, practically the same number should reach the 

 spawning grounds each year, and the spawning grounds 

 should not be interfered with by destructive methods of 

 fishing. The present scarcity of this fish is attributed not 

 so much to the numbers caught each year by the fisher- 

 men as to the annually decreasing numbers that succeed 

 in reaching the spawning grounds, and to the use of haul 

 seines on the spawning grounds. 



