lU) '/'lilrli/si.rlh A II mini Mrrllmj 



l.i-()|)()i-ti<)ii;iU'ly !n ihc iiicivaso iii lunn,.!' years. Now. wlirtluT 

 tliat is clue to the factor of ])olhition is snnietliin.u-, of (Ours:-, I 

 cannot say. TUwo is no donhl that it is a factor. But the fish 

 (!•> .Li'd tlu-oiiuii that pollution, and the poilntion is just as ^-jva' 

 in the ])c!a\\ar(' i'i\ci- as it was Icii yrai's a^o, and there lia- l.een 

 an increased run i>\' shad in the 1 )e,d\vai'e riv.r, ^]"lo\\■ing tlia' 

 they must -ct tlirou.iih. 



ih-csident : J sliouhl like to ask whether you think thai tlie 

 i^-ettin^u- of say. five million fi'y. is i^oiiiL;- to keep up the lisherx' 

 Avork in the Delawaio ri\er? 



^li'. ^leelian: Xo. T do not thiidv five ni'llion fry is ooiim- 

 to kee]! np the work in the Delaware river, not by a good deal. 

 1 thiidv it will take a great many more than five million fry to 

 kec]) np the supply in the Delaware river, with the demand that 

 we have for that fish, not oidy in Philadelphia, but in Xe\* 

 Yoj-k. A large nuniljer of our fish go into the New York market, 

 and 'J'renton, Camden and other ])oints. Fifteen million will 

 not begin to do it. That sort of thing, continued, simply mean^ 

 ruin for the shad fisheries. There is no question about that. 

 We must try to devise some means by which we can get more 

 eggs from the fish that come in the river, by some means, or 

 through artificial means, in order to ripen the fish, somewhat 

 on the lines they do wnth the whihdish: otherwise the shad fish- 

 eries are doomed. 



]\rr. Se'ymour Bowei', Deti'oit, Midi.: I would like to a<k 

 Mr. ]\leehan if he has any idea what proportion of the shad 

 which enters the Delaware river and the other rivers that flow 

 into the Delaware are ])ermitted to reach the spawning ground, 

 or n ])oint where they will s])awn. if taken. Isn't it a fact that 

 a large ])ei-centage are ca])tui'ed l)efore they reach the sjiawning 

 ground? 



Mr. ]\reehan : Of course that is a fact, a large pro}iorlion. 

 Nevertheless, there are a hirge number of fish that do reach the 

 spawning ground. The natural spawning grounds on the Dela- 

 ware river are above Trenton, from Trenton clear up to the New 

 York line. Every pool above Trenton is a spawning pool, if of 

 any size, and up to — well, even last year — I saw fish, and fish in 



