SHAD FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 195 



somewhat brackish. A number of important rivers enter this bay from 

 either side, and Susquehanna River enters at the northern end, con- 

 tinning the separation of the two shores of Maryland and draining a 

 large area of Pennsylvania. 



At its entrance into Maryland, Chesapeake Bay receives each year 

 2,250,000 or more shad, of which about 750,000 pass up the Potomac, 

 330,000 proceed up the Pocomoke and Tangier Sound tributaries, 50,000 

 up the Patuxent, 350,000 up the Choptank and tributaries, 50,000 up 

 the Chester, 650,000 in the meantime being taken on the shore of the 

 Chesapeake and its smaller tributaries, leaving 70,000 or more to pass 

 up into the Susquehanna. These figures include only the shad that are 

 taken by the fishermen, and not those otherwise destroyed or that 

 escape these fatalities and return to the sea, as to the number of which 

 no estimate can be formed. The shad fisheries of each of the several 

 tributaries of the Chesapeake will be separately described, leaving for 

 the present chapter a notice of the fisheries of the bay proper. Many 

 of the shad obtained in the bay are taken in the lower and middle por- 

 tions, but the great bulk of the catch is taken in the extreme upper 

 end. 



Because of the differences in the physical characteristics, in the forms 

 of apparatus used, and also in the seasons at which shad are taken 

 therein, it is desirable in treating of the Chesapeake fisheries to sepa- 

 rate them into two geographical sections, the first covering the lower 

 three-fourths or more of the bay, from the Virginia line to Swan Point, 

 and the second including that part above Swan Point, which is at 

 the north side of the mouth of Chester River and opposite Patapsco 

 River. 



From the Virginia line to Swan Point. — This portion of Chesapeake 

 Bay is 90 miles long and from 4 to 20 miles wide. From the western 

 side it receives the waters of the Potomac and Patuxent rivers, while 

 from the east it receives the Pocomoke, Wicomico, Nanticoke, Chop- 

 tank, and Chester rivers, and some smaller streams. 



The shad fisheries outside of the rivers are of comparatively small 

 extent and confined to the use of pound nets and a few stake nets, 

 yielding 159,279 and 4,G20, respectively, in 1896, of which 29,780 were 

 obtained by men living on the Eastern Shore and 134,119 by fishermen 

 from the Western Shore. 



The location of pound nets on the Eastern Shore was as follows : Poco- 

 moke Sound, 8 nets, taking 7,149 shad ; below Little Annemessex River, 

 5 nets, yielding 1,416 shad; Smith's Island, 1 net taking 4,875 shad; 

 Tilghman Island and Wittman, 4 nets, with 2,640 shad ; and Kent Island, 

 4 pound nets, yielding 9,080 shad. On the Western Shore 4 nets were 

 located at Point No Point, 29 near the mouth of the Patuxent, 5 at 

 Governor Run, and 48 between Holland Point and Gibson Island, 

 making a total of 86 nets, worth $11,224, which yielded 53,167 roe and 

 80,952 buck shad, worth $18,347. Most of the pound nets are of the 

 "single heart" variety, and the mesh in the bowl is generally 4 inches, 



