FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 



247 



TI)e OtI>er aide of tl)e 3f)ield. 



Since reading the interview I have quoted above, I have heard of Captain John 



Pindar, of Catskill, and as he has made his living for many years — I think all his 



life — as a shad fisherman, and is still in the business, it is fair to assume that he 



knows something about it. Captain Pindar says : " My attention having been called 



to certain statements alleged to have been made by Jacob Conine in an interview, I 



desire to say that Mr. Conine's premises are false and his conclusions are mistaken. So 



far this has been the best shad season in ten years, and last year on the lower Hudson 



was the best shad year in twenty years." Captain Pindar contends that the fish that 



are growing scare in the Hudson are those which are not cultivated artificially, like 



the sturgeon and bullheads. He underlines this statement: "If it had not been 



for the shad hatcheries there would not be a shad in the Hudson to-day." I once heard 



a shad fisherman declare before a legislative committee that the run of shad in the 



Hudson depended solely upon whether or not the fish came into the river from the 



sea, and the hatching operations had nothing to do with it. Captain Pindar is not 



that kind of a fisherman, for he knows what he is talking about when he talks about 



shad fishing and the habits of shad. 



A. N. CHENEY, 



State Fish Culturist. 



THE FISHING FLEET OFF SHORE. 



