STATISTICAL REVIEW OF THE COAST FISHERIES. 277 
ficial hatching, the profitable employment of additional fishing gear 
would not be possible. But the fact should not be lost sight of that 
each year a larger proportion of shad is caught in the bays, estuaries, 
and lower reaches of the rivers, where pound nets and other gear have 
been multiplied to such an extent in recent years as to largely prevent 
anadromous species from ascending to their natural spawning grounds 
in the headwaters of the streams. For this reason the maintenance of 
the abundance of shad is more dependent now than ever before upon 
artificial propagation. 
A comparison of the catch of the shad with that of the alewife for 
the years named will prove instructive, inasmuch as the latter is not 
hatched artificially, and these species are practically taken in the same 
waters on the Atlantic Coast and to a large extent at the same season 
aud in the same forms of apparatus. It is only just to say, however, 
that it is claimed by good authority that the alewife has an advantage 
over the shad; when it is caught it is commonly in a ripe condition, 
the adhesive eggs are pressed out in great quantities when the fish are 
taken in pound nets, aud masses of them dan generally be seen attached 
to the apparatus. Nevertheless, the comparative figures in tables 13 
and 14 show the alewife catch to have increased only about 23 per cent., 
while the value of the fish to the fishermen has declined about 5 per 
cent. This relatively slight augmentation of the catch in 188S, as com- 
pared with 1880, indicates an actual diminution in the supply, when the 
increased quantities of apparatus used for the capture of this species 
are taken into consideration. 
Tables 15 and 16 present an interesting comparative statement of the 
yield and value of the oyster fishery in the years 18S0 and 1888. The 
preservation of our oyster fishery has become an important economic 
question, and much attention is now given to it in nearly all coast sec- 
tions where it is feasible to produce oysters abundantly. In some States 
laws have been enacted giving certain proprietary rights in areas of sea 
or river bottom for the cultivation of oysters, and the results have been 
such as to demand the serious attention of legislators in other States 
where no such regulations are in force and where there has recently 
been an alarming depletiou of this highly prized article of food. 
Taking the country as a whole, there has been only a slight falling 
off in the oyster produet, but this is due to a somewhat remarkable in- 
crease in certain sections, which nearly counterbalances the decrease 
elsewhere. The depletion of the grounds in the most important oyster 
regions has led capitalists to seek other fields for exploitation, and in this 
way the oyster industry in the Gulf States has been improved and in 
some cases created. In other States, as in New England aud New York, 
the increased output is due to wise legislation. It is not practicable to 
enter into an elaborate discussion of the subject. It will perhaps suffice 
to call attention to the figures for the Chesapeake Bay region (Maryland 
