666 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES, 
Winthrop Buck, by whom a small haul-seine is employed. The following statistics of the fishery 
at this point will be interesting, as they serve to show the extent of equipment necessary to make 
the operation profitable. The seine (nine-thread) is 75 fathoms long, and is hauled by windlass. 
The crew consists of four men. About one-twentieth of the fish taken are consumed fresh, the 
remainder being salted, and packed in barrels, each capable of holding five hundred fish, and 
shipped to New York. The highest point at which alewives are taken on this river is at Windsor 
Locks, and all these fisheries lie between there and Middletown. The season commences about 
the second week in April. In 1880, however, it was earlier than usual, the run beginning in the 
last week of March. 
STATISTICS OF CONNECTICUT RIVER FISHERIES IN 1880.—The following statistics of the 
fisheries of the Connecticut River for 1880 have been prepared by Mr. R. B. Chalker, of Saybrook, 
who is extensively engaged not only in fishing but also in buying and marketing the product of 
the river, and who is therefore eminently fitted to give exact data on this subject: 
Product. . 
Nets. Boats. 
Value of 
Bomber shore _ Shad. Alewives. 
zi property. 
Number.| Value. Number.| Value. Pounds. Value. | Barrels.| Value. 
Gill-net fishery ............2.0.245 67 | $4,275 114 57| $4,275 |........-. 225,980 | $11,299 00 |.......-..}...002.0. 
Haul-seine fishery ........-......- 24 6, 450 137 61 2, 344 $1, 305 176, 224 8, 811 20 2, 700 $10, 800 
Pound-net fishery ...........----- 30 29, 732 75 30 4, 500 1, 600 708,136 | 85,156 80 |...-......).-....-2-. 
111 40, 457 326 148 11,119 2,805 | 1,105,340 | 55, 267 00 2, 700 10, 800 
The larger proportion of the shad product of the Connecticut River is sent to packers in 
Lyme, Essex, and Saybrook. Thence they are shipped in ice to various points, but chiefly to New 
York City. There are 10,420,000 pounds of menhaden taken in the pounds. These are composted 
for conversion into manure. 
From the statistical returns made by the pound-net fisharmen, in response to a circular 
issued by the U. S. Fish Commission, has been selected that of Mr. S. A. Chalker, who operated a 
single pound at Cornfield Point, in Long Island Sound, and 5 miles west of the mouth of the Con- 
necticut. These figures represent a fair average of the necessary pound-net equipment, of the 
product of the fishery, and of the cost of operating the same during one season. 
| Number. | Pounds. | Value. 
Men employed............-. DB litiinneinnspmanacakey 
Pound-nets ...............-- a Pecooscecs $400 00 
Boats .....- 0. 2.eceeeces sens 7 eer 75 00 
Capital invested ............|.......---Jecsececess 497 00 
Product. 
Shad: 
Sold fresh on beach......|...-.-.+.. 632 87 92 
Shipped in fce ...........]....--.... 22, 936 | 1,876 16 ” 
BAtOG swans pensanvneenss | eenasanine 360 21 60 
2. THE HOUSATONIC RIVER. 
Formerly valuable fisheries for the capture of both shad and salmon were operated on this 
river. Those for the latter, however, no longer exist, the species having been exterminated by 
the erection of dams, and the upward movement of shad is now limited to a reach of about 30 
