656 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
“ Their term of life cannot be ascertained, but it is fair to infer that they attain their growth in 
a year, from the size to which the young attain during their short sojourn in our waters, as well 
as from the general uniformity of size observed in each of several runs. 
“Their average weight may be about 7 pounds, but individuals are occasionally caught which 
weigh as high as 12 and even 13 pounds. 
“The numbers of shad taken in the Delaware vary in different seasons. Perhaps it would not 
be far from the truth to estimate them at 30,000 at each shore fishery. Formerly, when fisheries 
were fewer, the number far exceeded this amount. 
“T have no data by which to estimate the number caught by the gilling-seines, but from the 
rapid multiplication of these destructive contrivances it must be very great. 
“The aggregate amount taken annually by the shore-seines and the drift-nets is probably not 
far short of 1,500,000, which, at $7 per 100, would be worth upwards of $100,000. 
“The principal market is Philadelphia, but immense numbers are vended at the fisheries, to 
which people flock from all quarters in wagons and boats. 
“The writer has known sixty and seventy wagons supplied in a day (each, perhaps, taking at 
least 100) at the Fancy Hill fisheries, 6 miles below Philadelphia. The great mass are salted like 
mackerel, and chiefly for domestic use. In the fresh state they are, in the height of their season, 
one of the most delicious of any of the finny race, and decidedly the best mode of cooking is that 
called ‘planking,’ which consists in nailing the fish to a clean oaken plank, previously heated, 
and setting it before a brisk fire. By this method the juices of the fish are all preserved. 
“They are sometimes treated like hams, viz, by rubbing them with fine salt, saltpeter, and 
molasses, and smoked for a few days, and in this way are very superior to those cured with salt 
alone. 
“The usual and most efficient method of taking the shad is by means of seines. [The description 
of the construction of the seine, the laying out, and hauling is similar to the methods now in use, 
and is not therefore reproduced.] The regular shore-nets vary in length from 150 to 500 fathoms. 
Formerly they were drawn in by manual labor alone. Of late years, however, capstans have 
been employed to aid in this laborious operation. 
“The number of men required to manage a net varies from fifteen to twenty-five. The whole 
number employed at the Fancy Hill fisheries, including foremen, clerk, marketmen, tide-watchers, 
&c., is nearly one hundred. 
“Besides the production of such an amount of healthful and delicious food in quantity generally 
sufficient to supply the States of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the fisheries give profitable em- 
ployment to a great number of men at a season when their services are not particularly required 
in agricultural labor. 
“The fisheries therefore constitute an important interest to the States bordering on the river 
and one that merits the fostering care of their respective legislatures. . 
“The importance of this species of property was recognized at an early period of our history, 
when fisheries were comparatively few, and numerous salutary provisions were enacted from time 
to time in relation to them, whose object was to perpetuate their benefits and secure them to their 
rightful possessors. : a 
“ Amongst others were those protecting the fisheries from unnecessary interruption by vessels 
and rafts, which are expressly required to avoid the seines while fishing, and prohibited under 
severe penalties from anchoring within the fishing range of any of the fisheries. 
“But of late years the legislatures of these States have been so occupied with political 
maneuvering aud management, that they seem to have lost sight of many of the best interests 
