248 TROUT AND SALMON 



means, but the present decrease in the annual supply cannot 

 be made good solely by the hatcheries of the United States 

 Bureau of Fisheries. During the spring of 1900, the agents 

 of that Bureau planted 291,056,000 young Shad and eggs in 

 the rivers of the Atlantic coast that are accepted by the 

 species as breeding-grounds, but in 1913 the number of eggs 

 and young fish for the year had fallen to 136,638,850. This 

 was the limit of the available supply. 



This fish is found all along our Atlantic coast from Florida 

 to Newfoundland, but it is most abundant from the Hudson 

 River to the Potomac. Of all our fishes, it stands third in 

 commerical value, being surpassed only by the quinnat sal- 

 mon and the cod. 



Including both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the value 

 of the Shad catch for 12 months ending in 1899 was 49,780,- 

 530 pounds, worth $1,519,946. 



The latest Shad statistics for the whole United States are 

 about ten years old, but they stood in 1902-1905 as follows: 



The Northeastern states (1905), 1,260,904 pounds, worth $87,670 



Middle Atlantic states (1904), 16,954,738 995,140 



South Atlantic states (1902), 9,849,338 605,539 



Gulf states (1902), 150 3 



Pacific coast states (1904), 489,505 13,146 



28,554,635 " " $1,701,498 



A falling off of 21,000,000 pounds in the annual supply of 

 our finest food fish between 1904 and 1914 is a serious mat- 

 ter. Where will we go for Shad ten years from now? 



In the Chesapeake Basin, says the report of the Fish 

 Commissioner for 1913, the catch of Shad for that year was 



