SHAD FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 171 



nock, and Potomac rivers. It is a bay rather than a sound, receiviug 

 the latter designation from its association with other waters of this 

 portion of the coast. The water is fresh except during periods of 

 excessively dry weather or of prevailing southerly winds, when it 

 becomes somewhat brackish at the eastern end near Croatan Sound. 

 It is considered the largest coastal body of fresh water in the world, 

 the width averaging 7 or 8 miles and the area approximating 450 square 

 miles. It is remarkably free from strong currents and tides, except 

 those of infrequent occurrence resulting from gales, and the depth of 

 the bottom is quite uniform, averaging from 16 to 20 feet. 



The shad fisheries of Albemarle Sound are among the most important 

 on the Atlantic coast, stake nets, pound nets, and seines being exten- 

 sively employed. Of the 735,192 shad caught in this body of water in 

 1896, 429,599 were taken by means of stake nets, 173,380 by pound 

 nets, and 132,213 by seines. The principal fishing centers are Edenton, 

 with 197 fishermen; Peter Mashew's Creek, 90 fishermen; Mackey 

 Ferry and vicinity, 70 fishermen, and Pear Tree Point, 36 fishermen. 

 Numerous other stations employ from 5 to 20 fishermen and a number 

 of shoresmen and preparators. Elizabeth City and Edenton are the 

 principal shipping centers. 



The stake-net fishery is by far the most important, the yield exceed- 

 ing by 40 per cent the aggregate catch in all other forms of apparatus. 

 The nets average about 20 yards each in length and from 10 to 14 feet 

 in depth, with from 5£ to 5£ inch mesh. The total value of the 21,985 

 used in 1896, including stakes, ropes, etc., was $29,944, and 331 men 

 were required to operate them. From 50 to 500 nets are set in each 

 string, the general direction of the strings being at right angles to tbe 

 current. They are located at various points throughout the sound, but 

 are most numerous at the extreme eastern end, near the entrance into 

 Croatan Sound. In an area of 25 square miles in that region there 

 were 46 strings in 1896, containing 7,785 nets, 35 per cent of the total 

 number in the sound. From this section to the mouth of the Roanoke 

 River stake nets are set less numerously and at irregular intervals, but 

 the number in the western end of the sound has greatly increased 

 during the last two years. The catch in 1896 aggregated 185,701 roe 

 shad and 243,898 bucks, valued at $82,664. The season began about 

 the first of February and lasted until the middle of April. .Most of the 

 catch is carried to some station on the Norfolk and Southern Railroad 

 and thence shipped to northern markets, Elizabeth City receiving the 

 bulk of the catch, with Edenton a close second. 



The pound nets in Albemarle Sound differ in no particular from those 

 in the neighboring waters on the south. A few are located near Peter 

 Mashew's Creek in the extreme lower end of the sound, but tbe greater 

 portion are in tbe upper half, within the limits of Chowan and Wash- 

 ington counties. They are set along the shores with from 1 to 25 nets 

 on each string. This fishery is of comparatively recent development, 

 originating about 1870. 



