724 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



The recent fishery of the river is confined to the tidal portions, within 6 miles of its junction 

 with the Keunebec, in Merry meeting Bay, where a few shad, ale wives, and sturgeon are taken. 

 For convenience these fisheries are regarded as part of those of the Kennebec River, and have 

 therefore been included in the remarks on that river. 



CASCO BAY AND TRIBUTARIES. This district possesses no river fisheries of great value, the 

 aggregate product being estimated at $5,609. The species caught, arranged in order of their pe- 

 cuniary importance, are as follows : Smelts, shad, eels, salmon, torn-cods, alewives. 



The smelts are mainly taken in weirs, of which there are 25; located in New Meadows River, 

 4; iu Harpswell Sound, 2; in Middle Bay, 2; in Maquoit Bay, 3; in Freeport, 1; in Yarmouth, 6; in 

 the Presumpscot River, 2; in Portland Back Cove, 3 ; and in Portland Harbor, 2. In this district 

 (in New Meadows River and Freeport) there are also four smelt seines iu use, the only ones in 

 the State. The smelt fishery of this district is of very recent origin, none of the weirs dating 

 back more than twelve years. 



The shad taken here are nearly all sea-shad, and are probably immature fish belonging to the 

 brood of the Keunebec. They are mostly taken iu drift-nets, which are plied in New Meadows 

 River, Quohog Bay, Harpswell Sound. Middle Bay, Maquoit Bay, an'd some other localities. Mid- 

 dle Bay has been the best ground. This fishery has been carried on for nearly thirty years and pos- 

 sibly longer. During the past twenty years it has greatly declined. The product is salted and 

 marketed as mess-shad. 



The principal eel fishery of this district is in Quohog Bay, where there was discovered iu 1876 a 

 most remarkable eel-bed, the most productive ever known iu the State. It extends over abont 10 

 acres, on a mnddy bottom, without grass, at a mean depth of 13 feet at low tide. The eels are 

 taken out by spears worked through holes in the ice, which commonly forms here in December. 

 The first and second winter from its discovery this bed yielded 2 tons of eels a day for the first five 

 or six days of fishing. Eels are taken in many other localities around the bay with spears, and iu 

 the Presumpscot River and around Portland with pots or baskets. 



The salmon taken in Casco Bay are believed to belong to the Kenuebec River, with few 

 exceptions. 



The only tributaries of Casco Bay large enough to demand notice are Royal's River (Yarmouth) 

 and the Presumpscot. Royal's, though a very small river, was frequented by salmon regularly 

 and iu considerable numbers at the beginning of the present century ; but they have long been 

 shut out by dams, and the last seen were caught in a weir .more than twenty -five years ago. 



The Presumpscot drains about 520 square miles of territory, and among its tributaries are 

 lakes with an aggregate area of 90 square miles. Lake Sebago, the second lake iu the State in 

 size, lies but 22 miles from the sea, but has an elevation of 247 feet. The Presumpscot is therefore 

 a rapid river. It has remarkably clear water, and abounded naturally in gravelly rapids. It was 

 frequented by salmon, shad, and alewives, but seems to have been best adapted to salmon. All 

 fisheries were practically extinguished early in the present century by a dam at the head of the 

 tide. That dam was afterwards abandoned, and alewives have since found a limited breeding 

 ground, and though unable to ascend the river far, both shad and salmon have occasionally bi'cn 

 found in it in recent years. All the dams now on the river, some seven in number, have been 

 recently provided with fishways, through which alewives do, and salmon may, ascend to Lake 

 Sebago. 



SAGO RIVER. The Saco drain s an area of 1,400 square miles, of which 600 square miles lie 

 in the State of New Hampshire, including the greater part of the White Mountain region. Its 

 sources are therefore more elevated than those of any other Maine river. Probably half of the 



