104 SBAD FISHERY COMMISSION 



number of sliad caught in my district was from 3,000 to 5,000 barrels. The following 

 shows the number of barrels of shad taken in my district between the years 1SS9 and 

 1906, inclusive: — 



1S99 1,107 barrels. 



1900 1,303 



1901 269 " 



1902 97 " 



1903 314 " 



1904 38 " 



1905 .30 " 



1906 24 " 



With reference to the cause of such a complete failure of the shad fish- 

 ery, the first and greatest reason is, I believe,, the destruction of the mother 

 shad in the rivers when they are ascending to their spawning ground. These 

 shad, which go up our rivers to spawn, furnish the supply for our bay fishery 

 and if the mother shad are destroyed the natural result is that the supply for the bay 

 is cut off. To prove that a great many shad are taken in our rivers I will give the 

 numbers of barrels reported by the overseer to have been taken in the Stewiacke river 

 between the years 1899 and 1906 :— 



1899 500 barrels. 



1900 700 



1901 600 



1902 176 " 



1903 310 



1904 1,000 



1905 400 " 



1906 25 " 



The above report would appear to indicate that not only has the taking of these 

 spawn shad cut off the bay supply but that the destruction of life has been so great 

 as to have destroyed the mother shad almost entirely. I know that there are some men 

 who no doubt have carefully thought over the matter (I would refer to the late W. H. 

 Rogers for example) who held the opinion strongly that the shad which ascend the 

 Shubenaeadie and Stewiacke rivers to spawn have no connection with the shad which 

 supply our bay fishery, but were the products of shad which ascended the rivers far 

 south and deposited their spawn early, then, later about the month of June arrived 

 here fat ; but he never ventured on an explanation as to what became of the spawn de- 

 posited in the Shubenaeadie and Stewiacke rivers. Of course the fact of having fat 

 shad so early after the spawning season seemed rather strange. Personally. I believe, 

 that the shad caught in Cobequid bay during the months of June, July and August 

 (that is the female shad) have not arrived at the age of motherhood for that year, but 

 many of them no doubt will go up the rivers to spawn the following year and by so 

 doing will propagate the species, while others will never live to ascend the river the 

 second time. As to the theory that our shad go to the far south to spend the winter 

 I have strong doubts. I believe rather that our bay shad go far enough away to get 

 into deep enough water to secure them a comfortable temperature in which to spend 

 their winter. Other causes which might be mentioned are over fishing, late fishing, 

 &c., but I am afraid that I would weary you should I enter into a discussion of these 

 causes fully, so will not try to write upon these phases of the question. I have already 

 stated my views upon these subjects quite fully in my reports sent to E. Hockin, E^., 

 Inspector of Fisheries for Nova Scotia. 



As to the date of arrival of shad in Cobequid bay, formerly when our shad fishery 

 was in a prosperous condition, the shad arrived in sufiicient numbers between the 10th 



