FORMER ABUNDANCE OF ALEWIVE8. 583 



small, and the fish in their ascent so crowded together, that they appear to be extremely abun- 

 dant, alt hough the aggregate catch for the entire Cape is not perhaps much greater than the 

 yield of many single seines in the South. Uere, however, there lias been no great decrease in 

 abundance, while in the South the herring fishery is much less productive than in former years. 

 Even now, however, the great seines of the Potomac and Albemarle regions could not be operated 

 without the herring fishery, and hauls are yearly made which seem incredible to those who have 

 not seen them. In 1879, at Wood's fishery, on the Albemarle, three hundred thousand Alewives 

 were lauded at a single haul of the seine. Hauls of half a million, and even more, were not 

 unfrequent prior to the late war. Considerable quantities of these fish are taken yearly in the 

 weirs on the south coast of New England, and form an important element in the bait supply of 

 the Massachusetts fishing fleet. In the report of the Massachusetts Commissioner of Fisheries 

 for 1872 are given the statistics of the catch of the Waquoit weir for seven years, from 1865 to 1871, 

 inclusive, the yearly average being 105,000. The annual product of two streams emptying into 

 the head of Buzzard's Bay is given in the same place, 1 one for fifteen, the other for seven years; 

 the average annual yield of the first was 539,000, that of the second 366,000. In 1864 the yield 

 wa> si 1 1. (MM). Numerous details of a similar character ma\ he t'ouml l.y those who are interested 

 in the statistical part of this report. 



South of Cape Fear River the Alewife occurs in all the Atlantic streams in considerable 

 quantities, but as yet their capture is apparently not of such importance to the fishermen as to 

 cause the formation of a special alewife fishery between that point and the great fisheries of 

 the Albemarle. 



In the works of early writers occur allusions to the Alewives of our Eastern coast, which 

 appear, in almost every instance, to refer to all the fishes known under that name. In Josselyn's 

 "Account of Two Voyages to New England," 1675, he remarks: 



"The Alewife is like a Herrin, but has a bigger bellie; therefore, called an Alewife; they come 

 in the end of April into fresh Rivers and Ponds; there hath been taken in two hours' time by two 

 men without any Weyre at all, saving a few stones to stop the passage of the River, above ten 

 thousand." 



Captain John Smith, in his " Advertisements for the Inexperienced Planters of New England," 

 London, 1631,* remarked : 



"The seven and thirty passengers miscarrying twice upon the coast of England, came so ill- 

 provided, they onley relyed upon the poore company they found, that had lived two yeares by their 

 naked industry, and what the country naturally afforded; it is true, at first there hath been taken 

 a thousand Bayses at a draught, and more than twelve hogsheads of Herrings in a night; of other 

 fish when and what they would, when they had meanes; but wanting most necessaries for fishing 

 and fowling, it is a wonder how they could subsist, fortifle themselves, resist their enemies, and 

 plant their plants." 



Thomas Morton, in his "New England Canaan," London, 1632, remarks: 



"Of Herrings, there is a great store, fat, and faire; & (to my minde) as good as any I have 

 scene, & these may be preserved, and made a good commodity at the Canaries." 



Mr. Higgiuson, in his " New England's Plantation," 1630, refers to the great abundance of 

 Herring in the waters of New England. 



In the "Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers of the Colony of Plymouth," from 1692 to 1725, 

 speaking of Town Brook, Plymouth, Massachusetts, it is stated that before the brook was so much 

 impeded by dams vast quantities of Alewives passed up through it annually to Billington Sea. 



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