SHAD FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 227 



above the Columbia dam in 1896. The fishing season for shad on the 

 Susquehanna and the Juniata rivers is limited "from Monday at sun- 

 rise till Saturday at sunset of each week from March 15 to June 25 of 

 each year." In 1873, when there was a large break in Columbia dam, 

 9,000 shad were taken in one of the Newport seines; in 1876, when 

 there were no breaks, 511 shad were caught, and in 1877, when there 

 were two breaks, one 20 feet wide and one 35 feet wide, 826 shad were 

 taken. If the break in the Columbia dam is not repaired, the catch 

 above that point will doubtless continue to increase, as the fishermen 

 will make preparation for them. 



The shad fishermen on the upper Susquehanna have three principal 

 complaints, the first and most general one being the existence of the 

 Columbia dam. The second complaint is that in Juniata River below 

 the Millertown dam, and to some extent in Susquehanna River, there 

 are a number of rough V-shaped stone breakwaters, similar to those 

 used in the Maryland section of the river, but having a small-meshed 

 net stretched across at the apex instead of the usual finger or fall trap. 

 This contrivance is intended for the capture of eels, but in the late 

 summer and early fall large quantities of young shad are caught and 

 destroyed. The seine fishermen near the Columbia dam are charged 

 with a practice known locally as "shingling," which consists in attach- 

 ing new shingles to weights by means of short lines and placing them 

 in the current of water passing through the breaks in the dams. The 

 current causes the anchored shingle to revolve rapidly, scaring the fish 

 and thus preventing them from passing above the broken dam. 



DELAWARE RIVER. 



The shad fisheries prosecuted in Delaware River by residents of 

 Pennsylvania are of importance, the catch averaging at least half a 

 million, but the operations of the New Jersey fishermen are much 

 greater. It is desirable to describe the fisheries of both sides of the 

 river at the same time, and, those on the New Jersey side being the 

 more numerous, an account for the entire river will be given in the 

 chapter relating to that State. In 1896 there were 705 residents of 

 Pennsylvania employed in the shad fisheries of Delaware River and 

 Bay, using 173 drift nets, 45 seines, and 30 spears, and taking 550,640 

 fhad, worth $67,449, as appears in the tables on page 223. 



Schuylkill River. — The Schuylkill formerly yielded many shad. Wil- 

 liam Penn mentioned in one of his letters that u 600 shad had been taken 

 with one sweep of the seine" in that river. In 1818 the Schuylkill 

 Navigation Company built two large dams across the stream, one at 

 Shawmont and the other at Reading. In 1820 the city of Philadelphia 

 built the large dam at Fairmount for water-supply purposes, thus com- 

 pletely destroying the shad fisheries above that point. But the fishing 

 below the Fairmount dam was remunerative until the building of the 

 gas works a few years later, the refuse from which causes shad to 

 avoid this river. 



