320 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



shad taken in the Connecticut River and vicinity, during 1880, was 268,608, or about 1,074,432 

 pounds. Striped bass and numerous other fish that were formerly plenty in the river have grown 

 scarce, and yearly show a decrease. The cause is attributed to the pollution of the water by the 

 large factories along its banks. 



Twenty-five fyke-nets are set iu this vicinity, a few outside and some inside of the river. They 

 are fished during the fall and winter mouths, and capture flatfish, herring, bass, and a few shad. 

 Two hundred lobster-pots are set about the mouth of the river and fished by four men. The catch 

 of lobsters is small, and mostly sold in this vicinity. From 10,000 to 15,000 pounds of eels are 

 annually taken. The refuse fish caught by the traps amount to about $500 worth annually. 



For trap or pound fishing the twine for the nets is bought and the knitting hired. The twine 

 costs 25 cents per pound and 15 cents per pound to knit it. The work is mainly done by women. 

 The six fishing companies average 2,500 pounds of twine per year for repairs, together with 2,000 

 pounds of rope at 15 cents per pound. A new pound-net takes from 800 to 1,000 pounds of twine, 

 and costs, with stakes and all the gear, from $800 to $1,000. The men employed fish on shares, 

 receiving one-third of the net proceeds of the fish after deducting rent, packing, cartage, commis- 

 sions, &c. The fisheries are held by "prescriptive right." The decisions of the courts have been 

 that persons owning the land own the fishery opposite. These fisheries are rented at from six to 

 twenty shad in every hundred caught. 



The fishermen and owners of pounds here are mainly well-to-do farmers, and of a higher order 

 of intelligence than is usually found among fishermen. They think that many shad either spawn 

 in salt water or at the mouths of the creeks; and a small creek near by was a famous resort for 

 shad years .ago. In proof of this theory they say that they take many shad which have spawned. 

 These they call "racers," and they are taken in April before the temperature is high enough in the 

 river to induce the shad to ascend for spawning, and one was caught in November. They caught 

 small shad of 2 to 4 inches long in salt water iu the latter part of May, 1875, and ask where they 

 come from. In the first week in June, 1881, Mr. Denisou found among a haul of six hundred shad 

 sixty-eight of these "racers." 



Mr. Samuel A. Chalker, of Saybrook, says that in 1849, the fishing was no longer profitable, 

 and that it had gradually decreased all along the coast under seine-fishing. In that year the 

 pounds were introduced, and since then the shad have not only increased along the coast, but in 

 the river also. It is worthy of note that these pound-nets arc not in the river, but run out from 

 the coast just west of it, and that the middle ones take as many as the outer ones. The fishermen 

 think that the shad come in toward the shore at flood-tide to feed, and so run into the middle nets; 

 and in proof of this say that fifty years or more ago there was a trap here called a " weir," which 

 was formed by stone- walls running out from the shore on the flats, and that just before the tide 

 fell a net was stretched across the entrance, and the shad were inclosed and taken out at low tide. 



Of menhaden (" whitefish ") but few are now taken for manure. There has been talk of keeping 

 the pounds set to catch these for the oil-works on Long Island, but it has not been done. 



Near Saybrook there is a small stream called Oyster River that produces a variety of the 

 bivalves after which it is named, which are said to be of superior quality. Fifteen or twenty 

 persons engage in taking these at odd hours, but do not take more than 100 bushels a year. 



WESTBEOOK. At Westbrook, the next town west from Saybrook, the shad fishery is carried 

 on by pound fishers, using twenty-one bowls and hearts. These pounds are owned by eleven com- 

 panies, and an annual average catch is about 12,000 shad, which are sold at Saybrook. About 

 200,000 pounds of "whitefish" or menhaden were taken here in 1880. In 1851, 5,000,000 of these 

 fish were caught here, but they have gradually decreased in abundance. One hundred men fish 



