188 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



There are few places south of Potomac Eiver better adapted to 

 shad -hatching operations than the Paniunkey between Hill's Landing 

 and White House Station. Within a river length of 16 miles, the dis- 

 tance in a straight line approximating 6 miles, there were in 1896 109 

 drift-net boats, taking 154,072 shad, and two seines taking 2,334 shad, 

 a total of 156,406. Of these 70,383, or 45 per cent, were roe shad, of 

 which about 14,000 were taken after April 20. It is reported that 10 

 per cent of the roe shad taken after April 20 are suitable for fertiliza- 

 tion, making a total of 1,400 that may be used for this purpose. This 

 does not include the ripe fish that may be obtained prior to April 20, 

 nor the number that may be drawn from the Mattapoui, 6 to 8 miles 

 distant, or the Ohickahominy, within 15 miles, each of which would 

 yield nearly, if not quite, as many as the Pamunkey. This section of 

 the stream is bordered by the West Point branch of the Southern Bail- 

 way, giving convenient shipping facilities. 



Mattaponi River. — The Mattaponi rises in Spottsylvania County, 

 and after flowing a distance of over 120 miles unites with Pamunkey 

 Eiver at the head of York Eiver. The lower 60 miles from the mouth 

 to Aylett is navigable and has considerable traffic. From Aylett to 

 Mundy's Bridge, a distance of 26 miles, the channel is obstructed by 

 logs, drift, and overhanging trees, yet it is navigated by rafts and 

 small boats. The Mattaponi is not quite so large or so deep as the 

 Pamunkey, but is otherwise quite similar, and there is even less differ- 

 ence in the extent and characteristics of the shad fisheries of the two 

 streams. As on the Pamunkey, drift nets and haul seines are the 

 means of capture, the yield by the former apparatus being by far the 

 greater. 



The drift nets are similar in every particular to those used on 

 Pamunkey Eiver, except that they are somewhat longer, with a smaller 

 number to each boat, the length of the 262 nets on this stream in 1896 

 aggregating 46,601 yards. The total catch by the 153 boats num- 

 bered 169,799, valued locally at $16,290. While a large portion of this 

 catch is sold locally, most of it is sent by boat or hauled across land to 

 the West Point branch of the Southern Eailway, and thence shipped 

 to Bichmond and other distant markets. 



The seven haul seines on the Mattaponi were used at the following- 

 points : Savage's, Walkerton (2 seines), Gathney's, Bugley's, and Jones 

 Lauding in King and Queen County, and at Pointer Landing in King 

 William County. They range in length from 280 yards to 50 yards, the 

 mesh being 2£ inches. The season begins generally during the first 

 week of April and extends to about the end of May; but at Savage, 

 16 miles above West Point, the season is somewhat earlier than this. 

 The total catch by the above seven seines was 10,117 shad, the smallest 

 for a number of years. There were formerly several small seines above 

 Pointer Landing, as well as at other places on the Mattaponi, but they 

 have given way to the cheaper and more effective drift nets. 



