146 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

 WINYAH BAY AND TRIBUTARIES. 



Winyah Bay, the confluence of Waccamaw, Pee Dee, Black, and 

 Sampit rivers, is one of the principal shad producing regions of the 

 Southern States. This bay possesses characteristics to be found at 

 the mouths of mauy of the large streams in the South. The length 

 approximates 12 miles, the width ranging from f to 4 miles, and the 

 bottom is of shitting sand, in which numerous channels have been 

 washed by the tide. 



From the outer entrance of the harbor to Georgetown, a distance of 

 14 miles, also for 30 miles up the Waccamaw and at the mouths of 

 Sampit and Black rivers, the water is well filled with drift nets from 

 the middle of January to the end of March, this being the only appa- 

 ratus used for taking shad. In 1896, 254 drift nets were used in the 

 waters tributary to Georgetown, the length ranging from 200 to 600 

 yards, with mesh from 5* to 5| inches, and depth from 40 to 60 meshes. 

 Two men are required for each boat, the men being mainly negroes, 

 many of whom find employment during the rest of the year in the rice 

 fields or the turpentine woods. 



The season begins usually during the second week in January aud 

 continues until some time in April, with the weekly close times operative 

 in this State. 



The catch in 1896 numbered 40,411 roe shad and 39,658 bucks, the 

 local value being $18,454. In addition, 14,246 hickory shad were taken, 

 worth $1,068. Most of the latter were females, the large mesh of the 

 nets permitting the buck hickories to escape. This fishery has not been 

 profitable for several years, the total receipts barely paying for the twine 

 used. 



The season in 1896 closed earlier than usual, the low prices in the 

 Northern markets not warranting shipments alter the first week of 

 April. In the first part of the season the buck shad largely outnumber 

 the roes, but later the proportion is reversed, resulting in about an 

 equal division between the two. The following shows the number of 

 each sex handled monthly by one Georgetown firm in 1896: 



Month. 



January 11-31 



February 



March ..' 



April 1-3 .... 



Total .. 



Buck shad. 



2,939 



12, 603 



3,133 



30 



23, 705 



Roe shad. 



452 



5,232 



17,345 



152 



23, 181 



Per cent of 

 bucks. 



86.67 

 70. 66 

 31.92 

 16.48 



Percentof 



roes. 



13.33 



29. 34 

 68.08 

 83.52 



The shad fisheries of Winyah Bay are of comparatively recent 

 development, being the result of the tendency in the fisheries on all 

 of the Atlantic coast streams toward concentration at points nearest 

 the mouth possessing the most convenient shipping facilities, and yet 

 where the river is sufficiently narrow to render very costly apparatus 

 unnecessary. 



