23 



legislative action the right to create the fishery, e.g., Nine Mile 

 Pond Stream in Barnstable, and Childs River in Falmouth. 



Leased. — Under the Acts of 1869 the Fish and Game Com- 

 missioners were given the privilege of leasing the great ponds 

 for a suitable period of time, for the purpose of cultivating use- 

 ful food fish. The system of leasing shore ponds for maximum 

 periods of twenty years by incorporated companies for the pur- 

 pose of establishing alewife fisheries has been popular on Mar- 

 tha's Vineyard, and special privileges have been given by the 

 towns in which these ponds are located. The important fish- 

 eries on Martha's Vineyard, e.g., the Mattakessett Creeks at 

 Edgartown, and Tisbury Great Pond at West Tisbury, have 

 operated under such special legislative acts. These semi-private 

 fisheries have reached a most successful state of development. 



Methods of Catching. 



The method of catching alewives are comparatively simple, 

 but there are numerous modifications to meet the particular 

 needs and diversified natural conditions of the individual 

 streams. Originally all fisheries were free to the public, and 

 every householder was given the time-honored privilege of 

 obtaining alewives in whatever manner and at whatever times 

 he desired. Later, when the towns first exercised their control 

 over the alewife fisheries, certain places were designated by law 

 as locations where alewives could be taken, and fishing was for- 

 bidden elsewhere on the streams. The catching places have 

 been developed by building locks and pens in which the ale- 

 wives on stated days are seined or dipped as they pass up 

 stream. 



Im-plements. — Dip or scoop nets, traps or weirs, and seines 

 are the principle implements for catching alewives. The fish are 

 taken with dip nets in narrow parts of the stream, in specially 

 constructed places (Fig. 4) and from seines or traps in which 

 they have been caught. The scoop or dip net has a circulai* 

 opening from 1 to 2 feet in diameter, and a handle from 5 to 7 

 feet in length. It is used to dip out alewives at the catching 

 places. Along the Atlantic coast alewives are taken in pound 

 nets, gill nets, seines, fyke nets, traps and dip nets. 



