SHAD FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 2G7 



The boats used in the weir fishery are flat-bottomed skiffs, about 15 

 feet long and square at each end, this form being the most convenient 

 for operating the small seine. Large scows, 20 to 30 feet in length, are 

 used in building the weirs and sailboats are employed in transporting 

 the fish caught. In 1896 there were 111 weirs, valued at $20,400, 

 operated on the Kennebec by 118 men, using 209 boats, valued at 

 $6,483. The seasou for shad began about May 1 and ended about June 

 25, the catch numbering 205,542, valued locally at $17,780. 



Drift nets are operated in Kennebec River from the mouth to Merry- 

 meeting Bay, but most extensively in the vicinity of Bowdoinham, 

 North Bath, Bath, and Georgetown. The length of these nets ranges 

 from 200 to 400 feet, averaging slightly more than 300 feet. The mesh 

 varies from 4§ to 5^ inches, the mesh of those operated below Bath 

 being a trifle smaller than those above that town. The drift-net season; 

 is coincident with the season in which shad are taken in the weirs, and 1 

 extended in 1896 from May 1 to June 2.3. During that year there were 

 47 boats employed in this branch of the shad fishery, manned by 72 

 men and using 107 drift nets, aggregating 10,838 yards in length and 

 $1,568 in value. The catch numbered 45,787 shad, valued at $5,026. 



Androscoggin Elver. — This river, the principal tributary of the Ken- 

 nebec, has its sources partly in Maine and partly in New Hampshire,, 

 whence it flows 100 miles to its entrance into the broad expanse of 

 Kennebec River, known as Merrymeeting Bay. It is navigable for a, 

 distance of 6 miles from the mouth to the falls at Brunswick, where it 

 is crossed by two dams, each about 14 feet high. At Lisbon Falls,, 8; 

 miles above Brunswick, there is a dam 10 feet in height. At Lewiston,. 

 40 miles by the river course from the ocean, there is a natural. JjaJJi.Qf 38\ 

 feet in a distance of 600 feet, at the head of which there is a dam witfb> 

 an average height of 12 feet. At present the shad fisheries of the 

 Androscoggin are confined to the lower end below Brunswick Falls. 

 Of the 13,410 shad taken on this river in 1896, 5,500 were caught in a 

 seine, 1,530 in 5 drift nets, and (5,380 in 2 weirs. The seine was 90 yards 

 in length with 3^-inch mesh, and was operated during the month of May 

 and the first three weeks of June. The drift nets were 80 yards in 

 length with 3^-inch mesh, and were used by one man each, the season 

 being coincident with that of the seine fishery. The two weirs were 

 much smaller than those in Kennebec River, both of them being valued 

 at only $125, and required four men to operate them. 



Eastern River.— In Eastern River, which enters the Kennebec a short 

 distance below Richmond, there are quite a number of shad taken by 

 weirs and a few by drift nets. The first report of the commissioner of 

 fisheries of the State of Maine states: 



In Eastern River thirty years ago there were 8 or 9 weirs, each of which took 6,000 

 or 8,000 shad per year, and ahout the same amount was taken hy seines and drift nets, 

 indicating a catch of 100,000 shad annually. In 1846 oug seine took 4,719 shad; in 

 1847, 3,319, and in 1852, 2,500. — (Reports of the Commissioners of Fisheries of Maine , 

 for 1867 and 1868, p. 46.) 



