American Fislicries Society 1 1 1 



taking shad eggs has become not only on the Delaware but else- 

 where a serious pro})osition an expression of interest has come 

 from others who have Ijeen engaged in shad work as to the char- 

 acter of this proposed crib and wdiether something better can be 

 devised. 



The increased number of sbad in IDOT in the Delaware rivei' 

 points in my mind to one inevitable conclusion, namely, that it 

 is water temperature more than anything else wdiich causes a 

 marked increase or decrease in the run of shad rather than nets 

 or pollution. I have no doubt whatever that improper nets and 

 water pollution are factors, and perhaps large factors in this 

 matter and therefore needs to take serious consideration by the 

 states concerned. For example, in the Delaware Bay gill nets 

 are in operation of very great length and in operation for prac- 

 tically 24 hours in a day. These nets are operated by Swedes 

 and Norwegians who work with double sets of nets and doubl.j 

 shifts of men. These nets stretch, relatively speaking, nearly 

 across the bay and lap each other. The operation of such nets, 

 of course, must have the result of preventing a full run into the 

 river, l;)ut even these nets last year and for the five preceding 

 years scarcely paid. 



Small mesh shore nets unquestional)ly are an evil and catch 

 and destroy thousands of small shad. Contrary to the iisual be- 

 lief we find that yearling shad had come into the river. They are 

 about the size of a herring and I have seen heaps estimated to 

 contain four to five thousand in the markets selling at 50 cents 

 per hundred, or the price of herring. Hence a small mesh net 

 must inevitably be a factor in destroying the fisheries and I feel 

 that no shore net should have a mesh less than four and a half 

 inches even in the pocket or bag. I particularly mention shore 

 nets in this connection for the reason that on the Delaw^are 

 river, notwithstanding the laws of both JSTew Jersey and Penn- 

 sylvania require a minimum mesh of four and a half inches 

 stretched measure, no gilier uses less than five inches and the 

 majority use a mesh of five and a quarter to five and a half, 

 while most of the shore men use a net with a mesh in the pocket 

 or bag as small as two and a half, as they claim, not of shad but 

 of herring. 



While I believe that improper nets and w^ater pollution ai'e 



