IXTERISf REPORT 83 



operations after building the refinery, I gave up 'the shad business. We sold shad to 

 St. John men by l,000"s of barrels, but we also sold to farmers by the piece, and to St. 

 John by the hogshead. Now for a half barrel as much as $10 or $11 is the price. I 

 gave $12 for a half barrel for my own use recently. Formerly sixty shad filled a half 

 barrel but now forty will do it, hence the fish are larger now. The first run were big 

 shad. The summer shad were IJ pounds or two pounds dressed. In curing we used 

 to take the head off, but now the head, backbone and tail are left on. Formerly the 

 shad were split, the backbone and tail left in, but the head taken off and then were 

 struck down. When the back bone was taken out it was a 'mess shad.' 



J. D. Hexder.sox, tish merchant, said : I have handled shad for 35 years. We could 

 get long ago all the shad we wanted at 3 J to 4 cents each, but there has been an awful 

 dropping off, a decrease of 75 per cent. The wharfs here at Moncton were lined with 

 boats loaded down with shad and they were sold for $3i per 100. I handled the heft 

 of the shad this stimmer and I paid 25 cents each for them. They were mostly from 

 down the bay and the price was $30 per 100. Most of them were split before I g«t 

 them but our shad have no spawn in them. Our shad are so much fatter and of nner 

 flavour but do not keep so well as the St. John river shad. I think that fresh water 

 affects them. Apart from the fact that St. John shad are spawners they have not the 

 same flavour as our shad. At the head of this river some shad have always spawned. 

 The young fish have been seen. I met a man who got small shad at Boudreau quarries 

 at the middle of September this summer on the Petitcodiac and they were the size of 

 emelts four or five inches long. Thirty-five years ago we got no St, John river shad 

 because they were not caught then I believe. This river fishing is a recent thing 

 begun in recent years. A shad about to spawn is not so good as our shad and as a 

 business proposition ' are inferior. I notice that the female shad has a deeper body 

 and blunt shorter head, but the male is longer bodied. My opinion is that there should 

 be a close season imtil July 1 each year and protect the spawn shad. 



Mr. K. A. Chapmax, Inspector of Fisheries for New Brunswick District Xo. 2, 

 under the Douiiuiou irovernment. said: I lived in Belliveau's village from 1S49 to 

 1S55, and my father and brother dealt in shad largely. Shad were very plentiful, and 

 35 boats fished out of Belliveau's village alone and in the Petitcodiac river over 100 

 or a total of 130 or 140. To-day there are not more than 21 or 22. The average, catch 

 was 400 or 500 on a tide to each boat and the price was $4 per 100 wholesale. The 

 men tried in May but the fish began to run about June 15 at least the catches began 

 then. Practically no spawn shad were taken not more than one in 500 shad. Such 

 spawn shad were I believe on their way up the river to spawn. The average size was 

 not over two pounds dressed. The second run was about July 15 to the middle of 

 August the fish being not extra fat and were IJ or IJ poim^ds dressed, or 140 to the 

 barrel. They probably came in from deep water. By the latter part of August or in 

 September the fish were fat and feeding all summer on the flats, and the cooler weather 

 made them superior fish. They were very thick, plump, fat fish, more than two or two 

 and a half pounds on the average, or forty to a half -barrel. Thirty-five picked shad 

 made a half -barrel. They were blue on the back and often called blue backs. Their 

 food was a shad worm on the flats. They devoured small worms, these formed part 

 of their food. I noticed the depletion of the shad for thirty years. Forty years ago 

 the fishery was at its best. I have repeatedly reported to the department at Ottawa 

 and my main contention was to preserve the shad while spawning. In my official dis- 

 trict I have not only the shad of Shepody bay but the Xorth shore as a few shad are 

 in the Pokemouche and Tracadie rivers and many in the Miramichi, also the Eichi- 

 bucto, but not the Buctouche or the Cocagne. A close season to June 20 or better 

 still to July 1, would help to save the shad. Fishing after August 15 would involve 

 taking of salmon but they must be liberated alive. The bulk of the salmon go up be- 

 fore September 1. They ascend the Miramichi all summer but the fall run is quite 



