206 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



man being required for each net. The number of nets reported in 1896 

 was 8, with a yield of 1,600 shad, worth $220, making a total of 69,488 

 shad, worth $8,157, taken in the Maryland section of the Susquehanna. 



Considerable complaint is made in this portion of the river regarding 

 the refuse from a sulphide paper mill established in 1891 at Conowingo, 

 about 10 miles from the mouth of the river. When the water is low 

 this refuse moves back and forth with the tide, doing considerable 

 injury to the fisheries, but during high water the refuse is carried out 

 into the bay, where it does little damage. 



The rivers entering Chesapeake Bay from the east are quite different 

 from those on the western side of the bay. The eastern tributaries are 

 more numerous, and, draining a low, flat region, their declivity is nearly 

 uniform and without falls. Excepting two or three of the smaller ones, 

 they rise in the somewhat elevated area forming the western portion of 

 Delaware and flow in a general southwesterly direction, expanding at 

 their mouths into broad estuaries. They are tidal nearly to the upper 

 limits, and are navigable for vessels of 5 or 6 feet draft for three- 

 fourths or more of their length. Beginning at the southern boundary, 

 the most important are the Pocomoke, Wicomico, Nanticoke, Choptank, 

 and Chester rivers, yet the tributaries of these and the smaller streams 

 are so numerous that there is probably no point on the Eastern Shore 

 of Maryland over 8 miles distant from tide water. The shad fisheries 

 of each of these estuaries and their tributaries will be described in 

 succession. 



POCOMOKE RIVER. 



Pocomoke River rises in Great Cypress Swamp, on the line of Mary- 

 laud and Delaware, whence it flows between narrow banks a distance 

 of 115 miles to its entrance in Pocomoke Sound. It is navigable for 

 vessels of 9 feet draft to Snow Hill, about 50 miles from the mouth. 

 The water is quite muddy, due to the suspension of the black alluvial 

 soil from its source. Much of this earthy matter is deposited at the 

 mouth of the river, where the accumulations of years extend for an 

 average depth of 20 feet over 16 square miles, forming the "muds," 

 over which at low tide there is a depth of 4 or 5 feet of water. The 

 shad fisheries of the Pocomoke are of considerable local importance, 

 and extend from the mouth of the river to several miles above Snow 

 Hill, the principal fisheries existing at Pocomoke, Mattaponi Ferry, 

 and Snow Hill. The yield in 1896 was less than usual, numbering 

 29,752, of which 23,713 were taken by men living in Worcester County 

 and 6,039 by Somerset County fishermen. Of the total yield, 17,692 or 

 60 per cent were buck shad. The forms of apparatus are bow nets, 

 drift nets, seines, and fyke nets. 



The bow-net or dip-net fishery yields 80 per cent of the total number 

 of shad taken on the Pocomoke. The bow nets are similar to those 

 used in the Carolinas, except that they are of more costly material. The 

 frame is of tough but light wood, bent in a long, oval shape, with the 

 longest diameter from 14 to 16 feet. Within this frame is a loose net 



