SHAD FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 251 



the principal channel being the Race, between Little Gull Island and 

 Fisher Island. At its western end the sound connects with the waters 

 of New York Bay through a long narrow passage known as East River, 

 which separates the western end of Long Island from New Yoik City. 

 Throughout its length, except near the mouth of the large rivers, the 

 density of the water is very little less than that of the ocean. The prin- 

 cipal river tributaries are the Thames, Connecticut, and Housatonic, 

 which bring down large quantities of fresh water. 



While some shad doubtless enter Long Island Sound through East 

 River, the great bulk passes through the Race at the eastern end. They 

 appear usually about the second week of April and are taken first in 

 the pound nets set immediately west of the mouth of Connecticut River. 

 Most of them pass up the Connecticut, but a large number proceed west- 

 ward, a few being caught in the pound nets set along the shore, while 

 others enter the Housatonic and some of the smaller streams of Con- 

 necticut and Long Island. The run into these waters during recent 

 years appears to be much smaller than formerly. The catch in 1890 in 

 the sound and its tributaries numbered only 74,321, of which 51,090 were 

 taken in the Connecticut, 9,878 in the Housatonic, and the remaining 

 12,753 along the shore of the sound and in smaller tributaries, whereas 

 the catch in the Connecticut alone was formerly half a million or more. 



While a few shad are caught in Long Island Sound proper, there are 

 no fisheries dependent exclusively on that species. At the southeastern 

 end, on the shore of Long Island between Orient Point and Horton 

 Point, there are a few pound nets each year which take some shad, the 

 number of nets in 1890 being 14, and the yield of shad numbering 510. 

 Very few shad run along the northern shore of Long Island Sound east 

 of Connecticut River, and in the 77 pound nets there in 189G only 244 

 shad were caught. In 28 of those nets not a single shad was taken, and 

 20 was the highest number caught in any net. In 1895 the 182 pound 

 nets on that shore yielded 290 shad. 



Between Connecticut River and New Haven Harbor shad are some- 

 what more numerous, and a number are taken in the pound nets. 

 Immediately at the mouth of the Connecticut, between the jetties and 

 Cornfield Point, there were 3 pound nets in 1890, which yielded more 

 shad than all the rest of the nets in the sound. ' They were set about 

 the 10th of April, and from that time to the middle of June the three 

 caught 4,592 shad, worth $1,083, of which 2,327 were roes and 2,2G5 

 were bucks. Seven or eight miles west of the above three nets, between 

 Duck Island and Kelsey Point, there were three other pound nets, 

 which yielded 197 roe shad and 295 bucks. A 100-yard seine, operated 

 at the mouth of the Ilammonasset River in 1890, caught 10 roe and 25 

 buck shad among other species. The area occupied by the G pound 

 nets above mentioned was formerly the location of one of the most 

 profitable shad fisheries on the coast. As late as 1885 there were 49 

 pound nets in that section, which yielded 123,100 shad. In 1880 there 



