204 REPORT OP COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



PATUXENT RIVER. 



The Patuxent, the most important shad stream between the Potomac 

 and the Susquehanna, is situated wholly in Maryland, rising in Howard 

 and Montgomery counties, and flows a distance of 110 miles to its 

 entrance into the Chesapeake, 20 miles above the mouth of the Poto- 

 mac. It is navigable for steamers of 7 or 8 feet draft to Bristol, 4G miles 

 from the mouth. Aside from the numerous apparatus of capture, fish 

 meet with no serious obstruction to their ascent of the river until near 

 Laurel, 95 miles from the mouth, where the river is crossed by two 

 dams for developing water-power. Because of the numerous fisheries 

 in the lower half of the river and the narrowness of the stream very 

 few shad ever reach Laurel and none ever pass above the dams at that 

 town. Of the 52,354 shad taken in 1896, 24,375 were obtained by means 

 of seines, 19,700 by drift nets, and 8,279 by pound nets. As the fish 

 enter the river they encounter first the pound nets near the mouth; 

 after proceeding about 35 miles they reach the lowest seine beach, and 

 a short distance farther up, between Dunkirk and Leon, they reach the 

 drift-net grounds. 



The pound nets operated in the lower end of the river are mostly 

 between Point Patience and Drum Point. They are small, averaging 

 in value only $125 each, and have small mesh, depending more on taking 

 alewives than shad. The catch of shad by the 33 nets in 1896 numbered 

 3,305 roes and 4,974 bucks, worth $910 at local values. The yield of 

 alewives in the same nets numbered 795,830, valued locally at $2,152. 



The seine beaches are located entirely in the upper reaches in Prince 

 George and Anne Arundel counties, from Hill's Landing to Leon where 

 the river is 500 or 600 feet wide. The seines range from 100 to 200 yards 

 in length, with 2£ or 2f inch mesh, and are worth from $80 to $300 each. 

 Ten shad seines were used in 1896, aggregating 1,700 yards in length 

 and $1,815 in value. The catch numbered only 9,244 roe shad and 

 15,131 bucks, valued locally at $2,680. 



Drift nets are operated only in a reach 5 or 6 miles in length, in the 

 vicinity of Dunkirk and Leon. The nets are each about 200 feet in 

 length, with from 5 to 5| inch mesh, and cost $10 or $12. Of the 18 drift 

 nets used in 1896, aggregating 1,205 yards in length, 10 hailed from Leon, 

 Anne Arundel County; 7 from Dunkirk, Calvert County, and 1 from 

 Nottingham, Prince George County. The catch numbered 19,700 shad, 

 of which 8,520 were roes and 11,180 bucks, the aggregate value being 

 $2,277. 



SUSQUEHANNA RIVER. 



While the Susquehanna is one of the longest rivers of the Atlantic 

 coast, only 12 miles of its length is within the limits of Maryland. 

 Since most of this river is situated in Pennsylvania, its general physi- 

 cal characteristics will be noted in the description of the shad fisheries 

 of that State. The Maryland section ranges from a half to nearly 1 

 mile in width, but as the water is very shoal it is navigable only a few 

 miles above the mouth. The fall in the 12 miles from the Pennsylvania 



