American FisJicries Society 109 



With the exception of two or three shad all were taken ])etween 

 fonr and ten P. M. Apart from the big da3's there was only an 

 average of one ripe fish per day taken. From June 1st to June 

 20th inclusive, there were taken only 3,232,000 good eggs. On 

 ^lay 31, a female was caught which yielded 98,000 good eggs, 

 the largest nund)cr of eggs ever taken of wliich the department 

 has a record from a single fish. The fish weighed twelve and a 

 half pounds. 



(^)n the same day a fifteen pound shad was caught l)y one of 

 the gillers. It was a hard female. The owner of the net had 

 intended sending the fish to the hatchery to be mounted, but un- 

 fortunately during his temporary absence from the net, his 

 helper sold the fish for $2.00. 



A curious feature of the run of shad in 1907 was that quite 

 frequently when a ripe female was secured there was difficulty in 

 finding a suitable male, and twice it became necessary to fer- 

 tilize eggs with herring milt. Of these eggs only 50 per cent 

 hatched. On one occasion a giller thinking a ripe male was in 

 sight, took the eggs from a female but found the male was not 

 in condition. He thereupon covered the eggs with water, set 

 them in the seat and cast his net out immediately and made an- 

 other drift although the state of the tide was not favorable, and 

 after a lapse of little over an hour siicceeded in getting a male. 

 Notwithstanding this very long delay this lot of eggs were very 

 fine. Over 90 per cent of them hatched. 



For several years the laws of Pennsylvania and New Jersey 

 relating to fishing on the Delaware river have not been uniform 

 in accordance with the treaty or agreement between the two 

 states which was entered into in 1794. Under the New Jersey 

 law shad fishing closes on the 15th of June and Pennsylvania 

 on the 20th. As a rule the shore men cut out their nets about 

 the third or fourth of June on both sides and by common eon- 

 sent the gillers stop on the 15th. The Pennsylvania men stop 

 usually because they are afraid if they got their nets beyond the 

 midstream the Jersey wardens will arrest them. This year be- 

 cause of the unusual number of fish and the high price pre- 

 vailing the owners of the shore nets on the Pennsylvania side 

 wished to operate nntil the 15th at least, but some of the fisher- 

 men had other ideas and they were therefore compelled to cut out 



