SHAD FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 



235 



Table showing, by States and apparatus, the yield of shad in the Delaware River below 



Scudder Falls in 1896. 



The drift nets are similar to those operated in the bay, but are smaller. 

 Indeed, it is somewhat difficult to separate the drift-net fishery of the 

 bay from that in this portion of the river. In the early part of the 

 season many of the fishermen operate in the upper portion of the bay 

 and the extreme lower end of the river, and as the season advances 

 they proceed up the river, shortening their nets when necessary. Hence 

 the separation of the drift-net fishery of the river from that prosecuted 

 in the bay is only approximately correct. Of the 414,044 yards of drift 

 nets used in this section of the river in 1896, 80,767 yards, or 46 miles, 

 were operated by 164 Delaware fishermen ; 64,670 yards, or 37 miles, by 

 340 fishermen from Pennsylvania, and the remaining 268,607 yards, or 

 157 miles, by residents of New Jersey. The nets used in the lower 

 portion of the river are much longer than those above Philadelphia, 

 the average length of the former being about 800 yards, and of the 

 latter 200 or 300 yards. The drift-net catch in 1896 numbered 

 1,375,561 roe shad and 710,030 bucks, for which the fishermen received 

 $226,595. This gives an average catch per boat for the Delaware fish- 

 ermen of 3,443 shad; for the New Jersey fishermen, 3,289, and 1,660 

 shad per boat for the Pennsylvania fishermen. This is reported to 

 have been the best yield since 1893, it being 20 per cent larger than 

 in 1895 and 30 per cent larger than in 1894. 



From the head of Delaware Bay to the falls above Trenton there 

 were 45 shad seines operated in 1896, of which 4 were in Delaware, 15 

 in Pennsylvania, and 26 in New Jersey. The seine fisheries in the 

 lower part of the river below Fort Delaware take very few shad, their 

 catch consisting principally of perch, striped bass, catfish, carp, etc., 

 the average yield of shad in the 8 seines operated there in 1896 being 

 less than 500 each. Above Fort Delaware the river narrows and main- 

 tains an average width of from 1 to 2 miles up to the mouth of the 

 Schuylkill River. This stretch of the river contains 5 seine fisheries, 

 all of which are valuable, the catch of shad in 1896 approximating 

 76,300, of which 25,000 were taken at the Clenmell Cove fishery, located 

 immediately above Thompson Point, at the mouth of Clenmell Creek. 



