xviii SHAD FISBERT COMillSSIOy 



and it is now 4| inches. We commenced with 47 meshes deep, but it is now 65 

 Dieshes." 



Periods of Best Condition of Fishery. 



We cannot ignore the statements that in former years, 40 to 50 or 60 years ago, 

 shad in some seasons were less plentiful than in others, but the present dearth of 

 shad must be regarded as due to other causes than such fluctuations. The serious 

 fact must be faced that for 25 or 30 years there has been a marked decline in the 

 supply of shad, while during the last ten or twelve years the fish have been alarmingly 

 scarce, and in such places as Scott's bay, where in 1S97 45,000 shad were taken in 

 cue night in a stake seine: in 190S the actual catch in the seine mentioned was not 

 more than 200 for the whole season; while at the time of the visit of the Commission 

 to this locality, the seine in question only secured three shad at one tide. The only 

 fishery yielding returns of consequence at the present time is that carried on 

 up the rivers in non-tidal waters where the last remnants of the shad spawning 

 Echools ascend for breeding purposes. The shad fishery in the tidal waters of the bay 

 is still carried on, but the success of the fishing depends not so much upon the shad 

 taken as upon the salmon secured in the same nets. 



There can be no question of the general abundance of shad formerly in view 

 of the remarkable testimony referred to in the preceding pages, and during the period 

 ol the American civil war the shad fisheries of the Bay of Fundy yielded large returns 

 and were most energetically carried on. The main catches were salted and shipped 

 to the American markets. The statement of Mr. Eogers, Scott's Bay, that in 1842 

 big catches of 50,000 shad were secured at that place and in 1844 155,000, abundantly 

 proves the plentitude of the fish; and from 1856 to 1885 the same witness stated that 

 there was good average fishing. !Mr. Herbert Tupper, Scott's Bay, informed the 

 Commission that in 1S72 three stake seines took 100,000 shad. The extraordinary 

 catches in that bay appear to have depended to a large extent upon weather con- 

 ditions, such as wind, etc.; with a west wind and roily water the best catches were 

 made, such as the 45,000 shad taken in a weir on July IT, 1897. Mr. Rogers stated 

 that under such weather conditions the shad came along the north shore into the bay 

 and good catches were certain, but if the water was not roily shad would not be taken 

 in quantity. 



Of course no systematic method of recording statistics existed in the early days 

 of the shad fishery and detailed figures are lacking for these early years. Indeed 

 in an official report to the Department of Marine and Fisheries in 1869, it is pointed 

 out that " it is very difficult to get even an approximate statement of the catches of 

 shad." In 1860 the Census returns for Xova Scotia gave the quantity of shad cured 

 in that province, the total being stated as 7,649 barrels. This quantity was made up 

 as follows, the counties contributing being: — 



Colchester 3,691 



Kings 1,274 



Hants 1.078 



Cumberland 652 



(See Appendix 5 for the detailed table of shad and salmon catches, 1861.) 



