SHAD FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 



197 



into lengths containing* from 150 to 400 yards each. The size of the 

 mesh is mostly 5^ inches, but some fishermen use 5£, 5f, and 5£ inch. 

 The cost of 1,000 yards medium-width twine is about $85. Two or 

 three men are required for each boat, the value of the latter averaging 

 nearly $100 each. The nets are used principally at night, a lantern 

 mounted on a float being attached to each end. While the nets are 

 drifting the fishermen "run" the net from end to end, discovering the 

 presence of fish by tbe " feel " of the upper line. That portion of the net 

 containing the fish is then raised and the shad removed, when the net 

 is dropped to drift as before. 



It is essential tbat the fish be removed very soon after they are 

 enmeshed, otherwise they are likely to be mutilated by eels, which are 

 very annoying during the shad season. Sometimes a large part of the 

 catch is found to consist of heads and backbones of shad, from which 

 the flesh has been stripped by eels. 



The season begins about the 1st of April and extends to the last of 

 May or 1st of June. The catch in 1896 was unusually small, the total 

 yield for the 191 boats being onty 242,903, an average of 1,272 per boat. 

 Some boats have caught over 8,000 shad in one season. The catch by 

 drift nets has been decreasing for several years, attributed by the 

 fishermen to the increased number of pound uets in the Virginia section 

 of Chesapeake Bay. The following summary shows the location and 

 extent of the drift-net fishery in this part of the Chesapeake in 1896: 



Twenty-five years ago stake nets were extensively operated in this 

 I>ortion of Chesapeake Bay, but they have gradually given way to the 

 more effective and less costly drift nets. They are yet operated along 

 the shore of Kent County between Swan Point and Worton Point, and 

 especially on the flats off Tolchester Beach, the fishermen living on 

 Kent County shore. The nets are about 25 yards in length and 45 

 meshes deep, with 5£ or 5£ inch mesh, and are set in rows in from 10 to 

 18 feet of water, 20 to 40 nets being used by each boat. In 1896 there 

 were 101 men engaged in the stake-net fishery, using 1,322 nets, 32,900 



