Delaware lliver by the tishei'meu. At'ter waiting- for a few 

 (lays ill tlie neighborhood, we found it impossible to overcome 

 tlie indisposition on the part of tlie fishermen to the young- 

 fish being removed to other waters, and were compelled to 

 return without tlie hoped-for shad. Thus ended the efforts 

 of the Commission to increase this most valuable fish in the 

 year 1874. All efforts tending to stocking and re-stocking 

 our rivers with this and other migratory fishes, is liypothe- 

 cated on the theory of their return as adults, for the purposes 

 of reproduction, to those rivers in wdiich their minority had 

 been j^assed. The heretofore accepted theory, that shad 

 formed in an immense school, on the Southern Atlantic Coast, 

 which sending off divisions as it moved northward up the 

 several rivers successively, fVom Florida to Nova Scotia as the 

 season advanced is no doubt incorrect, for the more Southern 

 Kivers do not continue their abundance, but those rivers 

 formerly abundant -wliich have been exhausted by over fishing, 

 or by obstructions preventing the hsh from reaching their 

 spawning grounds, continue unproductive, irrespective of 

 their geographical positions, and those rivers in which artifi- 

 cial propagation has been resorted to, continue year by year 

 to be more and more productiue. The immense numbers and 

 the extreme delicacy of the shad, which prevents their being 

 liandled. and the probable length of time which they remain 

 in the sea, lias rendered it impossible to ascertain with that 

 accuracy, with Avhich the motions of the salmon, have been 

 determined by marking them, but, it is reasonable to take it 

 for granted, that the same natural laws govern the shad in 

 their migrations. It has been ascertained by markino- the 

 salmon in various ways, such as cutting off the adapose 

 dorsal fin, when they are preparing for their first visit to the 

 sea, and by attaching tags, etc., that tlie salmon invariably 

 return to the rivers in which they were bred. We, therefore 

 report, that the best means to re-stock our rivers, would be 

 to establish hatching stations on as many of them as spawn- 

 ers can be obtained, and the fisli should be turned into the 

 streams as high up as practicable^ and tliat the maximum 

 amount of ova be collected each year. 



To accustom the young fish to the upper waters, and to 

 create in them a desire to ascend t<» the sources of our rivers. 



