266 



stocking the Delaware Eiver in that State with shad with the following result, 

 and that stream is not as favourable for propagation of shad as the Hudson : — 



Value of shad fisheries in Delaware river in 1880 $ 80,000 00 



1887 300,000 00 



18U0 600,000 00 



1891 .... 750,000 00 



The Commissioner said that the cost of shad by reason of the great increase 

 in the supply, was reduced, and that Delaware River shad were now sold in 

 large quantities in the fish markets of Cleveland, Chicago, and other western 

 cities. 



Commissioner Ford also stated that the Pennsylvania Commissioners some 

 years ago had taken in hand the re-stocking of Lake Erie with white fish, and as 

 a result, the cost of that fish in the markets on the shore of Lake Erie bordering 

 on the Pennsylvania line was reduced one-third. 



A fair example of what may be expected from well-directed and systematic 

 fish cultural work : — 



Fishing with Pitchforks — How Shad may be Caught in some Waters in 



California. 



Colonel Marshall McDonald, United States Fish Commissioner, is deeply in- 

 terested in the results of experiments in the acclimation of shad on the Pacific 

 coast. Until 1880 the fish commission had been engaged in the propagation of 

 shad with a view to their introduction and acclimation in those river basins of 

 this country in which the species is not indigenous. 



Before the Commission had been obliged to overcome by artificial means the 

 rapid decline in the productiveness and value of the shad fisheries in the Atlantic 

 coast rivers, it had the satisfaction of observing on the Pacific coast the valuable 

 results of well-directed efforts in acclimation. 



Prior to 1871 no shad were found in all the west coast waters, but in 

 that year 1,200 fry were transported in a couple of tin cans from the Hudson 

 river, and planted in the Sacramento at the railroad crossing at Tehama, and the 

 first consignment was followed by others in 1873, 1876, 1878 and 1880 aggregat- 

 ing half a million. 



These slender colonies were less than one-half of 1 per cent of the number 

 turned annually into the eastern streams of the country by the commission, but 

 yet they have been sufficient to stock the coast with shad, which have multii^lied 

 and distributed themselves along 2,000 miks — from the Golden Gate to Van- 

 couver Island. They are abundant in some of the rivers, common in most of 

 them, and occasional ones may be found everywhere in the estuaries and bays of 

 the long line of coast. 



Commissioner McDonald has just received from the California commission a 

 report in reference to the abundance of shad in the Sacramento river, which 



