26 SHAD FISHERT CO^tMISSIOy 



another at the river mouth was also fished. We gave up our seine for three years be- 

 cause of the injury due to drift nets. At Kingsport, Bishop fished for two or three 

 years and then gave up and Mr. Hills and I fished in 1893-4-5. Ever since the St. 

 John men came here the shad have grown less. I was a boy when they came. At 

 Scott's bay such catches were made that everybody went there to take care of the shad. 

 The whole country side turned out to help and salt them. The price of salt shad in 

 1S3S was $2 and $2.50 per barrel and they were sold around the country, the only 

 towns to which any were shipped were Halifax and St. John. The price has now risen 

 to $10 per half barrel. 



Phillip Browx, Caxxixg^ said he wTls born in 1830, and when he was 26 years of 

 age there were nothing but brush weirs off Blomidon shore. Our catches were herring 

 and as they got scarce we got seines. The stakes were 8 feet long, 3 feet being in the 

 mud. Fat herring- were so plentiful that we would often lift the stakes and liberate 

 them. They were taken out by cart-loads. About the last of April we got one or two 

 spawning shad in a season. Seines seld'om took a shad, one now and then, but very poor 

 in condition. Shad were big then, 80 filled a barrel and 100 Xo. l"s at that time filled a 

 barrel. I never saw shad fry. We often found herring get thi'ough the brush. When the 

 St. John (Halliday's) schooner came and lay off Pereau at anchor I lived there. They 

 liad eight or nine boats and' they would drift down and go aboard to clean the fish. 

 Ti.ey got lots of shad and cured on board. They set seines on stakes they had cut, and 

 ever since they fished the shad decreased. That was in 1868 or earlier. But we could 

 always get a fresli shad somewhere until this year. I have heard of 500 barrels of 

 spawning shad taken near St, John river, and the cause of the decrease is this killing 

 of spawn shad. Eemove the cause and let the shad spawii. In Scott's bay no shad 

 arc caught if the water is clear. Weirs do no hurt here. The same applies to herring. 

 From Scott's bay to Cape Split they are spawning on that shore. I remember three 

 vessels from St. John loading up, salting and filling the hold for St. John. I have 

 fished at Wliitechurch brook and the weirs never stopped the herring a bit. Leaving 

 the weirs in after the fishing with cart-loads of dead and decayed herring is bad. and 

 they should be taken up not later than the middle of July in this locality. Later 

 would do in Scott's bay. 



Ephraim HiLTZ, KiXGSPORT, said that 15 years ago he commenced seine fishing. 

 Had fished before in Halifax county. Shad were formerly more plentiful and he had 

 heard old men say that earlier still they were even more abundant. He got in his first 

 year (1893) 200 half-barrels of salt shad, perhaps more. We sold some fresh. Three 

 of us joined in the catch. Our second year was not so good; but the third was best 

 of all, besides fresh shad we had 125 half-barrels. Shad seines were everywhere iif- 

 inch mesh. A second net (herring net) was often hung outside 2|-inch mesh. A 

 small seine 3,000 feet long cost $200. The seine on Starr's flats probably cost $400. 

 AYe bought Halifax twine, IS thread cotton the size of salmon twine. I tanned my 

 twine, some use tar and some raw tar. The wing that crosses the tide requires renewal 

 every year. Yoii can't clean it of moss. I have seen small shad running with large 

 sliad. They were as small as gaspereau, especially if shad were in quantity. The 

 largest shad are 9 pounds, only one or two in a season : we called them King shad. T 

 have seen them with a little spawn, they were large fish, very poor. Annapolis and 

 Nictaux rivers have spawning places. Shad feed on gray worms on the flats. They 

 av<: jointed and you see the marks of the shad's nose in the mud. There is no scarcity 

 of feed. Stop spawning shad being taken. Shad are over by August 15, but we fish 

 seines till then, and commence the last week in June. We have no loss from storms 

 up here, but in the bay there is loss. We like a S. or S.W. wind or a S.E. is good as 

 it is an on-shore wind. Shad are windward fish. We got $5 per half-barrel Xo. I's 15 

 years ago; but last year (1907) I got $10. Our trap or seine is small and catches are 

 ret very bis. I got three shad and one salmon this year. 



