INTERIM REPORT 63 



KufKRT Flltox said from being a boy 1 liave kuown the shad fishery. I have 

 cleaned more shad thau any oue else on the north shore. I have fished both the drill 

 net and weir. Forty-eight years ago I fished for myself. I fished the big weir, which 

 for SO or 90 years has been fished except for two years recently. Long ago the shud 

 were speared on the flats, then a mud weir close to the shore on the flats was tried ; 

 300 shad were got in it. Big catches were taken in sweep nets; 6,600 were caught nt 

 high tides, indeed the sweep net could often not hold them, 10,000 or more perhaps at 

 one haul, and we had to then let the net down and free some. I have known 3,000 

 or 4,000 taken between 2 and 6 p.m., and 200 again in the next morning when there 

 v>us a gentle breeze from the west, a calm flood or a breeze on the ebb to prevent the 

 fish coining too close to the tcp, as being only five feet high, they might pass over. 

 Shad have the habit of staying close ou the bottom. Hence a boat might drift ovei 

 ihe.n and get six shad only, while we would have a catch of 2,000 in the weir, 

 the boat being in 2J fathoms the drift net being 11 feet and the weir 5 feet from top 

 to bottom. The shad were feeding, a spring or little mound of sand with a bug inside 

 on which the shad fed, and plenty of the feed meant plenty of shad. In the boats we 

 see lots of brown bugs with numerous feet, they are on the stern sheets, also a mud 

 worm which creeps about. The shad's stomach is small and hard, like a gizzard which 

 grinds the food and digests it rapidly. The quantity of shad has declined but the 

 size has kept up. The causes I think are (1) spawning fish have been destroyed 

 that is the chief cause. (2) overfishing especially the fishing dragging on late in the 

 fall. The remedy I would suggest would be to prohibit the catching of the spawning 

 fish in the river as one shad means f 0,000 here while the river fishermen get -30 cents 

 for that parent fish. Prohibit shad fishing from August 15 to June 15 following. I 

 think I know how the river shad netting began. I knew a faiTner on the Lower 

 Stewiacke who speared a few shad in the river using a pitchfork. He married a Bas9 

 river girl and she made shad nets of the larger mesh and taught them how to net shad 

 with a net and punt. The mesh would be 5 inches probably. That would be 42 years 

 ago. 



D. Starrett said that he agreed with the evidence and wished to add nothing to it. 



Wallace W. AIorrisox, of Economy, said I have fished shad for 60 years. For 2 

 or 3 years I used a boat and net, but principally carried on weir fishing below Economy 

 Point. It was deep water and a rapid current with an eddy most favourable. Shad 

 feed on the ebb tide on shrimp and flat worm 5 or 6 inches long. Thirty-eight years 

 ago big catches were conunon, thus at that time 70 barrels were taken in 7 nights, 140 

 shad to the barrel. Twenty-five years ago the shad declined so that I quit my weir 

 got so few fish. Shad come on the top at high water and go down on the ebb feeding 

 ou the bottom. Up above here it is muddy and below at the point it is clear water. 

 Shad are timid and a weir through which a sheep can go wiU frighten 

 them away. Shad run to the top of the bay and work down so that 

 the upper nets and weirs get the first eatehts. I never got one spawn shad in 

 all my big catches and not a dozen poor thin shad in all my years of fishing. The fis!» 

 in my opinion spawn in the Connecticut river and migrate here to fatten up. Jones, 

 of Boston, told me he thought their shad poor and they were United States shad. 

 Weirs don't scare shad as what they catch they keep, and my weir must be very loosely 

 made in order to let the strong tide through. It is in a sandy location, but for five 

 years lately I have not fished it. For many years I got a good many herring in it, but 

 no salmon. Drift nets and dog-fish may have frightened the shad away. If the mesh 

 were enlarged to 5 inches it would ruin the fishery. A 4J mesh, or ifeth larger, nearly 

 5 inches, would not catch No. 3 fish and will secure and hold the big shad. When 

 older the net shrinks. 



