76 SBAD FISHERY COillllSSIOy 



be used. The depletion of the shad is serious for all the people. They complain that 

 they don't get shad now. 



Twentieth Sitting. 



Amheest, X.S., October 1, 1908. 



After the commission sitting had been formally opened by ilr. S. F. ilorrison 

 and Mr. Simon ilelanson, members of the commission, evidence was taken as fol- 

 lows : — • 



Egbert Leesby, Amherst, said that I can remember shad fishing 60 years back. 

 I have fished shad with set nets at the mouth of Amherst river. These nets were set 

 on the flats on poles. The first nets used were 5 inches mesh, but this size was later 

 reduced to 4* to ii inches. Each net was li fathoms long and 13 to 18 feet deep.' 

 These nets were picked every 24 hours. We began to catch shad about the 20th •of 

 June. We would take from 80 to 120 fish to a tide. Almost all the farmers from 

 Amherst to Amherst Point were engaged in fishing shad at that time of the year. 

 Each man had a net. These were fastened together into a string and run out into the 

 bay. The shad caught were fat and of fair size. I hardly saw a spawn shad among 

 them. We split these shad in the back, took off the head and left the backbone in. 

 They were salted and shipped to the United States markets. About Amherst, shad 

 fishing has been declining for about 40 years. I don't know why it declined. I don't 

 think the sawdust has injured the shad fishing here. The fishery was an important 

 industry and I think it would be a good thing to have it restored. 



Charles Cotes, West Amherst, said: I have fished shad the same way as Mr. 

 Lusby described in his evidence, but have not fished any for 25 years. The fishery 

 practically stopped with set nets 25 years ago. Xo men here are drifting for shad but 

 some are drifting further down the bay, on the New Brunswick shore about Wood 

 Point. I heard that some fishing was done two years ago by Mr. Lake, of Windsor, 

 and he caught about half a barrel at a tide. I have occasionally seen a spawn shad 

 when fishing for gaspereau. I would like to see shad fishing restored, as there were 

 fully sixty farmers, I think, fishing 40 years ago. They would catch from 10 to 25 

 barrels in a season with a 12 fathom net. The net was 60 meshes deep. 



Ealph T. Keillor, Amherst Pokt, said: I have fished shad in the same way as 

 the two previous witnesses (Mr. Leesby and Mr. Cotes). It did not pay us farmers to 

 bother with the fishery, and I stopped 35 years ago. My opinion is that the destruc- 

 tion of spawn shad in the St. John river, Xew Brunswick, is the cause of the decline 

 in our bay. It did not pay us to leave our hay and fish shad after about the first of 

 August, and we used to stop about then. I have heard the old people relate a story 

 long ago (I think over a hundred years ago) that there was a net put in on the 

 Amherst creek, and it filled up with such a great catch of shad that it broke. The 

 creek was full of shad. The shad is a valuable fish, and there should be something 

 done to restore it. Shad have become so scarce that people here have dropped it alto- 

 gether, they can't get them. 



