52 TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETlNCi 



weighing 5,541,499 pounds, valued at |166,551. The shad is 

 our principal food fish, taking the lead both in quantity and 

 quality. Before the artificial hatching of shad was introduced 

 the supply was very limited but since that time there has been 

 so much attention paid to this important work the supply has 

 greatly increased. Capt. John Tyler, an old resident and fish- 

 erman upon the Manokin river, states that prior to 1885 shad 

 were unknown in that river but after an interest was mani- 

 fested in the artificial propagation of shad and the stocking of 

 Manokin river they have greatly increased for the past ten 

 years and are now being caught in large numbers. This has 

 been the experience with all our rivers which have received 

 ])roper attention in this direction. With increased interest in 

 artificial propagation, the supply has increased from year to 

 year. In some places where there was one fisherman catching 

 a very small number, now there are ten, and the catch has 

 increased greatly. In shad hatching we commence to strip 

 the fish or take the spawn about April 1st, and continue as 

 long as we can get ripe shad. It takes us from three to six 

 days to hatch them. There is no doubt that had it not been 

 for artificial hatching of shad they would now be almost as 

 scarce as the diamond back terrapin. We have four shad 

 hatching stations in Maryland operated by the State the past 

 season from which 48 millions of shad were distributed. The 

 United States Fish Commission also operates stations at Bat- 

 tery Island at the mouth of the Susquehanna and at Bryan's 

 Point, below Washington, on the Potomac. 



It has been well said: "In some respects the shad is the 

 most remarkable of domesticated animals, for it is the only one 

 which man has as yet learned to rear and to send out into the 

 ocean in great flocks and herds to pasture upon its abundance 

 and to come back again fat and nutritious to the place from 

 which it was sent out." From this point of view, the mainte- 

 nance of the shad fishery by man by the use of artificial means 

 is one of the noble triumphs of human intelligence over 

 nature. 



The menhaden is not sold in our markets directly nor used 

 for food by our people, although it is one of the most abund- 

 ant fishes "^on the Atlantic coast. As a food for predaceous 

 fishes the menhaden is an important fish and its commercial 

 value is by no means small. The catch in the Chesapeake Bay 

 has been in a single vear 92,000.000 pounds of this fish, which 

 vielded 214,000 gallons of oil worth |85,000; 105,000 tons of 

 guano worth |210,000; 212,000 tons of compost worth |19,000, 

 or a product in one year of |:]00,000. This fish is very abund- 

 ant along the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod to Florida and has 

 manv local names. There are sixty establishments along the 



