xxxviii SBAD FISHERY COMMlf^SIOX 



and edgings also sunk there." Quantities of sawdust, before becouiiiig water-logged 

 and later sinking to the bottom, cover the sandy beds and fill the pools which the shad 

 frequent. When tlie sawdust rots it must in its decayed condition be most deadly 

 to all insect life and to the minute food upon which the shad fatten. One witness, 

 at Great Village, said: — 



Dirt and sawdust are both bad, I have seen sawdust in the gills of a shad. Three 

 or four sawmills on each river pouring their sawdust into the bay all along this shore 

 is most harmful. The " Xest ' is an eddy caused by a reef and sawdust settles there. 

 On the flats it is two to four inches deep and the fish which used to stay don't come 

 now to feed there where there was little current and they have now left it altogether. 



The view has been strongly expressed by certain fishermen, especially on the 

 Petitcodiac waters, that the shad swallow sawdust where the water is polluted with 

 that waste material and that examination of their stomachs showed that they were 

 not only full of sawdust but that it had decayed and had caused swelling, distending 

 the walls of the stomach, which became thin and diseased. The shad themselves 

 were as a result in very poor condition^red inside and sickly — and resembled spawn 

 shad and must have been quite unfit for food. It is tlie conclusion of the fishermen 

 that sawdust must cause the death of the shad. The effect of sawdust, in the opinion 

 of fishermen and others, would appear to be that it chokes the fish, it causes them 

 to decay when they swallow it, it deters fish from ascending, it drives them away and, 

 esiieeially if (lei)osited on spawning beds and on feeding grounds, must be most 

 harmful. 



Curing' and Marketing Shad. 



In the early history of the fishery the shad were taken by such simple means as 

 pitchforks, spears and short nets, as already described, and the fish so taken were 

 used for home consumption in both a fresh and salted state. Shad, so far as can 

 be ascertained, were salted in barrels in the early ' forties ' for export to the United 

 States" markets. One of the pioneers in this industry was ilr. Halliday, who had 

 come out from Scotland and carried on business in Halifax and came to the Bay 

 of Fund,v with a vessel and several boats, about 1840, to engage in the shad industry. 

 As one witness said : — 



ilr. Halliday sent his fish to the Boston market. He put up No. 2 shad, splitting 

 them and leaving the head, backbone and tail on them. The Xo. 1 shad he put up 

 with the backbone in them. The year I was with him he began to dress them by 

 taking the head oif, taking out the backbone with the tail selling them as Xo. 1 ' mess 

 shad.' I think I was the first man on the bay to split shad in that way. From 102 

 to 105 of these No. I's shad without head and bones would fill a barrel of 200 pounds. 

 I think shad brought from $16 to $18 per 1 arrel in Boston. 



In due course the fishing industry grew in extent in the bay waters and the 

 large markets were supplied with salt shad, these markets including Boston, New 

 York and Philadelphia. 



Various methods were adopted in different localities in the modes of putting up 

 cured shad, as will be detailed shortly. So long as the supply of shad continued 

 abundant the export business was conducted on a large scale but in course of time 

 the fish fell off in quantity and the export shipments consequently ceased and the 

 local markets then practieall.v took all the catch. Indeed, the local demands in 



