24 SHAD FISHERY COilMISSIOy 



ago there were very few shad. One poor year now and again probably the fish had 

 turned some other way. For some years after 18S4 there were poor season.s but in 

 1896-7 big catches were made. Xext year, 1898, was very good, but not so many fish. 

 "We use 5-iueh mesh, extension measure. The reason is that there is no use in fish- 

 ing with it small, and it costs a little less. The decline is due to the destruction of 

 epawn shad. Xo spawning places occur near here. We take few small. A few like 

 a large herring, some one-third grown and some one-half grown. When the mtiU 

 operated here sawdust did not keep the shad away, they came in just as plentifully 

 as usual, and none were ever found dead. A close time would be serious for no one. 

 Spawn shad go into the garbage heap if caught, they are so poor. Hatcheries hare 

 improved the supply of salmon they are more plentiful than 20 or 30 years ago. 



Herbert Tuppeb, Scott's Bay, stated that his experience covered 50 years. Saw- 

 dust is an injury to any fishery. All round the Bay of Fundy shores sawdust has 

 been harmful, it lies on the ilats and they are black with it when it decays. We 

 caught plenty of shad, yet always thought it an injury, and found it covering the 

 food with a scum. The food is a worn or flea. I know of one man who angled for 

 shad successfully, but did not know the bait he used. 1872-3 was a big year, when 

 100,000 shad were stopped in three seines. A vessel load of salt was available, and 

 the catch was salted in puncheons and re-packed in barrels. Formerly always packed 

 in barrels. The remedy for the present scarcity is to stop the destruction of female 

 shad. Three or four years ago good farmers would feel around to catch a few shad 

 from Bridgetown to the headwaters where the Annapolis river is nothing but a brook. 

 It was the same on the Shubenacadie river. In St. John river tens of thousands of 

 shad largely spawn; shad are taken in drift nets, &c., which are very thick in the 

 St. John harbour, and that is a grave danger. I saw them about the last of !May. 

 It would be a money gain if we stopped and stored our seines. The value of salmon 

 catches we make amounts to nothing, but it would be serious for the weirs. After 

 June 10 shad are seldom taken in salmon weirs. 



OxLEY Steel, Scott's Bay, said he farmed and fished, and had known the shad 

 fishery for 20 years. The seine takes IS to 40 pounds of twine for each share per 

 year at 25c. per pound. It costs, say 15c. per pound, for knitting, and it is tarred 

 with pine tar. We use 18 thread cotton twine. We used to buy in Halifax, but lately 

 got twine in Boston already knitted. In the seine is an inner net in the bunt 5-inch 

 mesh, whereas the outer net is 2-inch mesh and is four feet high. We use stakes 17 to 

 24 feet long and 4 inches diameter at the butt. We drive in a 7-foot hub of small stakes 

 which are shorter and make a hole alongside and tie the long stakes in and leave the 

 hub or short ones in. We take the long stakes out. The decline is due to spawn shad 

 being caught in the rivers. Sewage and sawdust pollutions had done harm. Shad are 

 so scarce they bring 25c. each, whereas formerly they were 5c. each. The witness 

 added that a large weir would cost $1,200. 



W. H. Watson", Scott's Bay, said he was born here, but had spent 18 years in 

 the United States. The shad lishery was a big industry when he went away, but had 

 declined when he returned in 1898. No cause that he could see. Sawdust is no hurt, 

 as salmon are more plentiful. Herring, too, have dropped off, but cod and pollack 

 as plentiful as ever. In Massachusetts, Connecticut and ilaine spawn shad are not 

 seen, and no fat shad. He farms as well as fishes, and has a share in two seines. 

 He tried to find out the food of the shad. It is something like sand fleas. Shail 

 ' sign ' is seen as a slimy deposit where the shad fleas have been down at the foot of 

 the beach. Shad are then around. Man causes destruction of the mother shad, and 

 hatcheries are the best remedy. Weirmen rarely see shad fry in the seines, and as 

 weirs have gates, small fish go through. 



