4-2 



SHAD. 



lower side*, while the abdomen is pearly in hue. 

 The quadrangular dorsal fin shots into a gronvo, ami 

 tho anal is partly received in a groove. The pocto- 

 rrnls and ventral arc small ; thornudal, deeply forked. 

 The scales are large; the abdominal ridge, serra- 



Tii.' shad is found nil along tin- Atlantic coast of 

 the United States, from the (.iulf of St. Lawrence to 

 Min's river, Florida, and is found everywhere 

 within this range in sufficient quantities to make tho 

 fisheries valuable. It is not found native in tin- 

 rivers that empty into the Gulf of Mexico, though 

 recent efforts to artificially stock those rivers 1 

 met with some success. The same is the case on the 

 Pacific coast, where artificially propagated shad have 

 been introduced into some of the streams. 



In its migratory habits the shad resembles tho 

 Rnlmon. though it probably does not venture so far 

 from the coast, and is supposed to be generally dis- 

 tributed along the coast regions of the ocean at all 

 times. Its feeding grounds and food are probably 

 much the same as those of the salmon. As soon as 

 the river temperature is sufficiently high, the shad 

 enter the streams on their spawning run, appearing 

 in the rivers in the latitude of Charleston as early 

 as January, and successively later up the coast un- 

 til the middle of May, when they are found in tho 

 Bay of Fundy streams. The mature fish return to 

 the ocean in August, the young in September, they 

 being then 3 or 4 inches long. The shad is of rapid 

 growth, and some suppose that it does not survive 

 beyond its second year, though this is not known. 

 The general theory that the shad always returns to 

 the river of its birth is also speculative. It has sim- 

 ply some probabilities in its favor. One thing, how- 

 ever, seems certain, that tho shad eats nothing dur- 

 ing its river run. The stomach is invariably found 

 empty. Yet the instinct for food is merely over- 

 come by the stronger reproductive instinct, and the 

 uliad will occasionally rise to a fly, and afford excit- 

 ing sport to anglers. The eggs of the shad number 

 from 20,000 to 40,000, and occasionally as high as 

 100,000. In former times the spawning took place 

 in the head waters of the rivers, but artificial ob- 

 structions now prevent tho shad from reaching their 

 former grounds, and the eggs must be laid lower 

 clown the streams. The mature fish return to salt 

 water after spawning, though some seem to remain 

 in the rivers until late in the season, and hava been 

 taken in the autumn months. The new-born shad 

 is said to swim vigorously as soon as it breaks tho 

 shell, and to make its way at once to the mid stream 

 win-re danger from its foes is reduced. This habit 

 give* it a bi-tter chance for survival. The young 

 feed on small cru.staeetc and insect larvae in fresh 

 water, an.l, unlike the salmon, make their way with 

 considerable haste to the sea. 



The shad is caught in drift and seine nets in tho 

 Delaware, Hudson, anil other rivers, and in th 

 calities is eaten fresh, its flesh being of delicious 

 flavor, though the numerous small bones are a detri- 

 ment. The fishery is of considerable importance in 

 the rivers of the British Provinces, where the bulk 

 of the catch is salted. In most of the coast rivers 

 of the United States it is also important, though 

 the shad has been driven from some, and is greatly 

 diminished in most others by injudicious damming 

 and overfishing. Thus, from being a food-staple, | 

 it has become to some degree a luxury, and alarm is 

 entertained lest this important fish 'may suffer the | 

 fate of the Atlantic salmon. Its spawning habits, 

 the vigor of the young, and their quick descent to 

 the sea have enabled the shad to outlive the condi- 

 tions which have deprived us of the salmon. Efforts 

 were mode, therefore, to assist nature in the preser- 

 vation of this valuable food-supply : First, by the con- 

 struction of fish-ways over dams, by the aid of which 

 the shad might ascend to their* native spawning 



grounds, and tho removal of the fish-wears, whick 

 destroy the young shad by the thousands. Secondly, 

 efforts were made to restrict fishing by regulations, 

 in which the size of the net meshes is prescnlied, so 

 that young fishes may escape ; Sunday fishing is 

 prohibited, leaving the flt.h free to make their run 

 on that day ; and a day is fixed on which the fishing 

 season must end this being June 10 on the Del- 

 aware. 



But both the natural preservatives and these at- 

 tempts to assist nature have proved of little avail 

 against persistent ovcrfishiiig, stimulated by com- 

 mercial greed. 



In the lower reaches of our rivers, which are still 

 ihle to the shad, the restricted spawning 

 grounds are industriously and assiduously Mi.]>t, 

 with drift net and seine, and innumerable tyke nets 

 and pounds effectually bar nil approaches, so that 

 natural reproduction is in a great measure imprac- 

 ticable even for the shad that find their way into tho 

 rivers and to the vicinity of their spanning grounds. 

 More serious than all, however, has been the trans- 

 fer of the shad fisheries to the estuaries of the riv- 

 ers, and the substitution of the pound net for pill not 

 and seine. In consequence of this change in the 

 location of the fishing grounds the larger proportion 

 of the shad captured are now tukon in salt or brack- 

 ish water, in which natural reproduction cannot be 

 accomplished. Indeed, so small is the proportion of 

 the seasonable run of shad which succeed in making 

 their way into and up our rivers and reaching their 

 spawning grounds, that natural reproduction has 

 ceased to be a material factor in influencing the con- 

 ditions affecting our shad fisheries. 



Resort has therefore been had, finally, to artificial 

 shad-culture, planting the streams with multitudes if 

 fry and voung shad. This has been the work chiefly 

 of tho U. S. Fish Commission. In 1875 it began 

 oj>erations with a view to introducing shad in those 

 river basins in which that species was not indige- 

 nous. But the census of 1880 and other investiga- 

 tions having proved that the shad fisheries of the 

 Atlantic coast rivers were rapidly declining, the 

 commissioners advanced to the further work of arti- 

 ficial propagation and distribution of young shad in 

 those very rivers. They undertook to rescue from 

 waste the'eggs taken from the shad raptured by tho 

 fishermen, to impregnate, hatch, and return these to 

 their native waters. The conditions were shown to 

 lie highly unfavorable, but the commission attacked 

 tin- problem resolutely, and the remarkable results 

 in 1885 and succeeding years are shown in the fol- 

 lowing table : 



As the average weight of shod is four pounds, this 

 fable shows an addition to the food-supply, in 1888, 

 <,f ::,.M '.i. .".or, pounds over that of 1880, and the money 

 value of the increase is estimated at 8704,101. Tim 

 increased production of this fishery is to be attrib- 

 uted to the piseicultural work of the United States 

 Fish Commission. The increased value of this 

 fishery is a measure of the economic value of this 

 work to the people of the country. 



In addition to the white shad" there is a second 



species on our coast, known as the Hickory shad 



..<). This has been given several local 



names, and is distinguished from the former by 



having a row of spots on its side. It does not oc- 



