SHAD FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 205 



line to the entrance of the river into Chesapeake Bay is 69 feet, an aver- 

 age of 5.75 feet per mile, the greatest within a short distance of the 

 month that exists on any large river of the Atlantic coast. The impor- 

 tance of the Susquehanna Eiver shad fisheries suffers somewhat in com- 

 parison with those of the Susquehanna Flats. The latter fishing- grounds 

 are usually more profitable, but as a rule, they also require larger and 

 more costly apparatus of capture than the river fisheries. The appara- 

 tus used in the river consists of drift nets and seines near the mouth, 

 and fall traps and bow nets in the rapids above Port Deposit. 



The gill nets are drifted between the Baltimore and Ohio Bailroad 

 bridge and Port Deposit. They are similar to the nets used at the 

 head of Chesapeake Bay, differing only in length, as the reach is not 

 very wide. Of the 49 boats engaged in this fishery in 1896, 33 hailed 

 from Port Deposit, 9 from Frenchtown, 5 from Perryville in Cecil 

 County, and 2 from Lapidum in Harford County. They carried 28,672 

 yards of twine in lengths averaging from 125 to 130 yards each, the 

 size of the mesh being mostly 5£ inches. The yield was much smaller 

 than usual, the catch numbering only 14,060 roe shad and 21,480 bucks, 

 the total local value being $3,949. 



Thf seines are of two general sizes, the larger being from 600 to 800 

 yards in length, while the smaller ones are from 100 to 150 yards long. 

 Of the former size there were 7 used in 1896, with an aggregate length 

 of 5,200 yards and valuation of $4,700, requiring the services of 265 

 fishermen and 71 shoresmen. The catch was scarcely up to that of an 

 average season, numbering 16,831 roe shad and 9,171 bucks, valued 

 locally at $3,222. One of the seines caught 24,000 shad during the 

 season of 1883. The small seines numbered 5, with 2|-inch to 4^-inch 

 mesh. Thirty men were required, and the catch numbered 1,759 roe 

 shad and 2,584 bucks, worth $507, making a total of 30,345 shad, worth 

 $3,729, taken in seines. 



At various points in the rapids of the river belowthe Pennsylvania line 

 there are several "fish pots" or fall traps, consisting of a small break- 

 water of rocks forming a triangle with the apex pointing downstream. 

 At the apex is placed a slat-work wooden frame with the rear end 

 raised a foot or two above the surface of the water and the front or 

 up-river end resting on the bottom. In passing along the stream the 

 fish meet these stone breakwaters, and following them reach the traps, 

 upon and over which they are washed by the current, falling into a box 

 placed under the raised or downstream end of the trap. These traps 

 have engendered considerable bad feeling among the fishermen on the 

 river. An interdiction exists against their use in Pennsylvania, but 

 they are unrestricted in the Maryland section of Susquehanna Eiver, 

 The number reported in 1896 was 15, aud the catch of mature shad 

 numbered 778 roes and 1,225 bucks, worth $259. 



On account of the increasing scarcity of fish, bow nets are not used 

 so extensively as was formerly the case. They are operated from boats 

 and also from rocks situated in favorable places in the channel, one 



