688 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
Sebasticook, a brauch of the Kennebec, to Newport, 100 miles from the sea, in great numbers, 
and on another branch, the Sandy River, tradition says that they bred in Temple Pond, about 
120 miles from the sca. It is not probable that their migrations were more extensive than this in 
any part of the State, except on the east branch of the Penobscot, where tradition says they 
reached a point nearly 200 miles from the sea. 
The main body of the alewives enter the rivers late in May; some rivers not until June. 
They move almost exclusively by daylight and especially in bright sunny weather. An unusual 
flow of water deters them from entering a stream. They are very courageous in the passage of 
falls, venturing into very small channels that promise to lead them past obstructions, and often 
forcing their way up inclined planes where the depth of water is not enough to cover their bodies. 
After spawning, the old fish soon return to sea, and the young follow them between July and 
September, when from 2 to 4 inches in length. The time that they require to attain maturity is 
estimated at three or four years. They do not appear to ascend the rivers more than once ina 
lifetime for any other purpose than to spawn. 
The alewives frequenting the same breeding place are remarkably uniform in size and appear- 
ance, but between those of different streams there are remarkable differences, mainly in the matter 
of size. Among the largest are those of the Kennebec, of which three hundred and fifty will fill a 
barrel, while of the Damariscotta alewives a barrel holds four hundred and twenty-five, and of the 
Brooksville alewives seven hundred and_fifty. The latter are the smallest known, but are very 
good fish. 
There is another species (Clupea estivalis) that is sometimes confounded with the alewife, 
though nearly all fishermen recognize it as distinct. It enters the mouths of the rivers several 
weeks later than the true alewife, does not appear to breed in fresh water, is of slightly different 
shape, smaller, of finer quality, but on account of excessive fatness is cured with difficulty and 
generally treated as refuse, to be employed as bait or as a fertilizer for the soil. 
The ovaries of a Maine alewife contain about 165,000 eggs. With this high degree of fertility 
they combine a considerable degree of hardiness in both adult and young compared with other 
members of their family, and to these characteristics we may attribute the fact that they increase 
with remarkable certainty and at a rapid rate when afforded even ordinary facilities. The placing 
of a few hundred adults in a pond at the season of their ascent is surely followed by the descent 
of a throng of young a few weeks later, and the return of a considerable body of mature fish 
after the lapse of three or four years. It is doubtfal whether there is another among our whole 
list of fish that will so well repay efforts at cultivation. 
MODES OF CAPTURE.—Alewives are caught in weirs, seines, drift-nets, set-nets, and dip-nets. 
The weirs do not differ essentially from those already described as built for the capture of salmon 
and shad, along with which the alewives are taken in such waters as are frequented by those 
species. This method is in use in the tidal part of every river where alewives abound. Theseines 
are the same as the shad-seines already described. They have recently almost wholly gone out 
of use, but are plied in a few localities, among which may be mentioned the lower part of Dam- 
ariscotta River. Drift-nets, with a mesh of 23 inches, have been employed for catching alewives 
down to recent times in the Kennebec River, but have now been abandoned. They were cast 
from a boat at night, the banks of the channel just outside of the weirs being considered the best 
ground. There has never been a time when many alewives were taken in this way, and they 
are not known to have been so taken in any other river. Set-nets have been used only in a few 
localities and to a very limited extent. 
