SHAD FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 207 



of the best hemp twine, ISTo. 35 or 40, with a "hang" of 5 or 6 feet, 

 the twine measuring 200 meshes around the frame, the mesh being 4£ 

 inches. Usually two men are required for each net, one of whom 

 operates the net while the other propels the boat; but in some instances 

 the net is operated from a stationary point or the boat is permitted to 

 drift with the current, requiring the services of only one man. The 

 catch by the 97 bow nets used on this river in 1896 numbered 23,812, 

 of which 14,052, or 60 per cent, were bucks. The season begins during 

 the third week of March and lasts about two months, the fish being 

 most numerous the second or third week of April. The season in 1896 

 was unusually short, and consequently the catch was small, averaging 

 only 235 shad per net. Yet this average was far in excess of that for 

 any other river in the United States, the nearest approach being an 

 average of 95 shad per net on Santee Eiver, in South Carolina. During 

 certain years as many as 1,000 shad have been taken in a single bow 

 net on the Pocomoke. The catch is practically all marketed in the 

 towns and settlements adjacent to the river, the price received ranging 

 from 10 to 30 cents each. 



Drift nets are used in the lower end of the Pocomoke, from Shelltown 

 to Eehobeth, and near Snow Hill, the head of navigation. They are 

 from 40 to 60 yards long "in gear," and from 44 to 52 meshes deep, with 

 4f to 5| inch mesh, the cost ranging from $6 to $9 each. Two nets are 

 usually carried by each boat, and generally two men are required, but in 

 the headwaters one fisherman operates each boat. The boats in 1896 

 numbered 21, using 2,180 yards of twine and catching 1,293 roe shad 

 and 1,905 bucks, valued locally at $491. The catch was the smallest for 

 several years, the average being only 152 shad per boat. 



There were 6 seines used on the Pocomoke Eiver in 1896, 1 at Cedar 

 Hall, 4 near the mouth of Nassawango Creek, and 1 at McKee Island, 

 above Snow Hill. They were from 70 to 100 yards in length, 8 to 12 

 feet deep, with 2^ to 2£ inch mesh. The shad season extended from the 

 last week in March to the first week in June, and the catch numbered 

 2,537, of which 63 per cent were bucks. In addition to this species, 

 quantities of alewives, perch, catfish, etc., were secured in the seines. 



Fyke nets complete the enumeration of the apparatus in which shad 

 are taken in the Pocomoke Eiver, these nets being used by residents 

 of Eehobeth and Shelltown, near the mouth of the river. They are 

 not operated especially for shad, and secure also many eels, perch, 

 alewives, catfish, pike, etc. They are set from the middle of September 

 to near the last of April, and the catch of shad in the 16 nets in 1896 

 numbered 115 bucks and 90 roes, making a total of 29,752 shad secured 

 in Pocomoke Eiver. 



Between Pocomoke and Wicomico rivers there are three small streams 

 entering Tangier Sound, viz : Annemessex, Big Annemessex, and Mauo- 

 kin, in which a very few shad are to be found each year, especially in 

 the last named; but there are no established fisheries, and the shad 

 taken incidentally are used in the homes of the fishermen. 



