SHAD FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 247 



most extensive fishery on the river. To avoid injury from vessels, 

 the buoy lines are so arranged as to permit the net to drift 6 to 30 feet 

 below the surface. The drift nets reported from this river in 1896 num- 

 bered 337, with an aggregate length of 200,590 yards and value of 

 $23,425, while the catch aggregated 162,385 roe shad and 134,793 bucks, 

 valued locally at $42,958. 



The upper limit of the stake-net fishery is Croton Point, on the east 

 side of the river, just above Sing Sing, while on the west side the upper- 

 most limit is Nyack, Rockland County. The stake nets north of the 

 Jersey line are small and inexpensive, costing about $1.50 each, being 

 set on the flats in shallow water, not over 15 feet deep. The catch by 

 the shoal-water nets in 1896 was unusually small, as the shad kept 

 well out in the channel. In 1895 the fish ran more inshore, so that 

 those nets made good catches. The stake nets between Alpine, N. J., 

 and the mouth of the river are much larger and are set on the edge of 

 the channel, in water 20 to 50 feet deep. The usual dimensions of these 

 nets are 90 meshes long and 100 meshes deep, with 5 inch mesh; many, 

 however, are 100 meshes square. The depth necessitates poles of great 

 length and strength, hickory and white oak being used generally. The 

 nets are set in rows of 25 or 30 each, running from the shore to the 

 middle of the channel. On the New York side there were no stake 

 nets below Fort Washington Point, and between there and Yonkers 

 there were but 3 rows, containing 120 nets; but on the New Jersey 

 side, between the mouth of the river and Alpine, opposite Yonkers, 

 N.Y., there were 1,518 stake nets in 1896, which caught 141,800 shad — 

 more than one-fourth the yield of the entire river. 



The stake nets in the extreme lower end of the river are subject to 

 considerable damage from the vessels continually passing, the greatest 

 amount of injury being done at night, when it is not always possible 

 to avoid the twine. Not infrequently a fisherman will have one third 

 of his nets destroyed in a single night, and a large percentage of loss 

 in this manner is always expected. However, the fishermen claim that 

 much of the damage is the result of pure indifference on the part of 

 vessel captains, who make no effort to avoid the twine. The total num- 

 ber of stake nets on the river in 1896 was 2,617, aggregating 21,170 

 yards in length, and valued at $9,693, and their catch numbered 

 106,065 roe shad and 74,710 bucks, worth $20,823. Of this yield 85,080 

 roes and 56,720 bucks were taken in the 1,518 nets set on the New 

 Jersey shore, and 20,985 roes and 17,990 bucks in the 1,099 nets set in 

 the New York portion of the river. 



A third form of gill net used on the Hudson River, known as the 

 " pole net," is similar in construction to the drift net, but its mode of 

 operation is somewhat like that of a stake net. The net is a continuous 

 section, 200 to 250 yards in length, costing from $40 to $60. Poles are set 

 on the edge of the channel about 35 feet apart, and to the lower side of 

 which the net is fastened at the commencement of every flood tide by 

 means of " arms" or ropes 6 feet long. At the end of the flood tide the 



