130 REPORT OP COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



increase was continued in 1896. In the last-named year the entire 

 yield was 170,252 roes and 28G,029 bucks, a total of 456,281, of which 

 331,033 were taken in drift nets and 125,248 in seines. Comparing the 

 number of fishermen in 1890 and 1896, it appears that the yield of 

 872,074 shad in the former year was obtained by 442 men, whereas the 

 456,281 shad in 1896 were secured by 447 fishermen, an increase of 1 

 per cent in the number of fishermen and a decrease of nearly 50 per 

 cent in the number of shad secured. The catch in 1890 was made with 

 191 gill nets and 10 seines, while in 1896 there were used 171 gill nets 

 and 24 seines. 



From the foregoing it appears that the yield of shad on the St. Johns 

 during the years noted has been as follows : 



Shad enter this river late in November and remain till the following 

 May or June. The legal season extends from December 1 to the end 

 of the following March, with close time "between sundown on Saturday 

 afternoon and sunrise on Monday morning of each week." Actual 

 fishing operations begin at the opening of the legal season, fully a month 

 before shad are caught in any other water on the coast, and end about 

 the second or third week of March. According to Dr. Goode: 



The spawning time is apparently from the middle of March to the latter part of 

 April. * * * The fishermen say that the shad spawn at the very head of the 

 river, but I have no doubt that many deposit their eggs ou convenient grounds 

 nearer the sea. The fishermen also have a notion that shad that have well ascended 

 the river never return, for they say they have never known a spent fish. This they 

 account for by the theory that they are devoured by the alligators and catfish, the 

 shad being weak and helpless after spawning. 



An interdiction exists against the use in this State of "any gill nets 

 for the capture of shad with a mesh less than 5 inches from knot to 

 knot measured lengthwise, that is to say, a mesh when brought to a 

 square, the sides of which are not less than 2£ inches" or any seine 

 with a mesh less than 3 inches. 



There are three distinct geographical sections in the shad fisheries 

 of the St. Johns, viz, (1) from the mouth of the river to Jacksonville; 

 (2) the Palatka region from Bridgeport to Welaka, and (3) from Lake 

 George to Lake Harney. Of the 456,281 shad taken on the river in 

 1896, 291,116, valued locally at $47,720, were caught in the first section; 

 37,300, worth $5,222, in the second, and 127,865, worth $8,982, in the 

 third section. The fisheries of each of these regions will be described 

 in succession. 



From the sea to Jacksonville. — In the lower section of the river, from 

 the sea to Jacksonville, a distance of 28 miles, situated wholly within 

 Duval County, the drift net is the only form of aj)paratus used in 



