xxxiv sHM) FlsllEHY VOM.]JJSf<l(jy 



during tlie night. Shad so taken, although of very fair quality, are, however, inferior 

 to those caught at the head of the bay." Most parties acquainted with the histoi-y of 

 the bay shad fisheries agree with the authority mentioned, in the view that this 

 destruetiou would do more than anything else to bring about that total depletion of 

 these fish which now confronts us. 



The destruction of spawn shad ruins the industry at its fountain head, and if 

 hatcheries, as many parties hold, could make up for this destruction the ditiiculty 

 would be to obtain an ample supply of spawning fish, the spawning fish would be 

 lacking, so that hatching operations could not be carried on. One of the principal 

 authorities in the United States laid great stress on this, and in an intero.stinc: state- 

 ment, published in 1906 and dated May 29, Washington, D.C., he says: — 



The shad fisheries of the Atlantic coast arc doomed uules? th? States take 

 immediate steps to protect them from the rapacity of the fishermen, is the opinion 

 held by John W. Titeomb, in charge of the hatcliing service of the Unite 1 States 

 Fish Commission. 



The great demand for shad roe prevents natural spawning and perpetuation of 

 the species. The bureau is now closing the hatching and distribution of shad for this 

 year, and reports from various stations give startling evidence that the supply of 

 shad on the Atlantic seaboard is rapidly diminishing. Facilities of the bureau allow 

 the hatching and setting free on the streams of the country of 300,000,000 shad fry 

 annually, but this year only about 45,000,000 have been handled. The output was 

 05,493,000 in 1904, and last year it was below 57,000,000. 



Mr. Titeomb predicts that in ten years, without the intervention of state protective 

 laws, shad will become so scarce in the Atlantic rivers that they will be purchasable 

 (inly by the stewards of big- hoteLs and those who supply the tables of the very wealthy. 



Habits of the shad lend themselves admirably to the extermination of the fish. 

 They approach the shores in immense schools, actually crowding one another in their 

 efforts to reach the head of the fresh water streams, where the spawn is deposited. 

 The fishermen have learned how to intercept the run by nets in the bays and in the 

 broad mouths of the rivers, and the marketable shad are now nearly all caught in this 

 way. 



Few roe shad escape the nets. The rivers are thus much depleted, the natural 

 spawning of the fish interefered with and the supply of eggs available for the hatching- 

 bureau cut off. 



In pointing out a remedy Mr. Titeomb says it is incumbent on the States to enact 

 restricting laws against the taking of fish in the brackish waters of the bays and at 

 the mouths of the rivers. He believes the fish should be allowed to ascend the rivers 

 unmolested, at least during one of the annual runs, possibly that in ~Slay, and during 

 a considerable part of the shad season the catch should be limited to fresh water. 



Streams on the Pacific coast have been stocked and the shad transplanted from 

 its native waters in the Atlantic ocean to the Pacific with good results. Shad are 

 increasing in California and other western rivers under the restrictive laws there 

 enforced. 



Our visits to the various rivers and the evidence which we obtained at our 

 different sittings compels us to conclude in regard to this matter that nothing has 

 contributed so much to the depletion of the shad fishery as the destruction of the 

 spawning fish up the rivers, especially since this capture of the breeciing fish has 

 been carried on for commercial purposes. The small catches made formerly by 

 settlers were such as sufficed for their own home use and a commercial fishery for 

 spawn fish wa.s not engaged in to any extent until 20 or 25 years ago, when, notably 

 in the Shubenacadie and Stewiacke rivers, this destruction of spawn shad assumed 



