FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 
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BUCHANAN BROTHERS’ FISHERY 
LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION 
For over 50 years a fishery has been in existence in Lynnhaven Roads, Va., at a 
place now known as James Siding. This place is only about 3 miles west of Cape 
Henry. The fishery (herein called the Buchanan Brothers’ fishery, because it is 
owned and has been operated during recent years by three brothers of that name), 
therefore, is near the entrance of Chesapeake Bay. 
Pound nets and seines only have been used in this fishery, and they have always 
been operated in the same immediate vicinity and no evident physical changes have 
taken place during the period (1908 to 1922) for which statistics are available. 
RECORDS OF THE FISHERY AND THE GEAR EMPLOYED 
Records of the quantities of fish caught at this fishery have been kept for 
many years in the form of duplicate bills of lading. The amounts listed, therefore, 
are quite accurate, as the fish are shipped by rail directly from the fishery at James 
Siding to Norfolk. In general, if 10 pounds or more of any one species were included 
in the shipment, the species was listed separately. The only discrepancy that 
occurs is in small catches consisting of only a few pounds, for these were listed as 
“mixed” fish. 
Through the courtesj^ of the Buchanan brothers we have had free access to the 
records, which are complete for most of the species (exclusive of 1911) since 1908. 
Subsequent to the close of the field work in 1922, the records of the shad caught in 
1923 also were obtained. 
Unfortunately for our purpose, the statistics from the fishery, for all the species 
taken, are not directly comparable for the entire period covered, as the gear was not 
uniformly employed. From 1908 to 1911 a set of two pound nets was operated from 
early March until about July 20, and for the remainder of the season, or until about 
the 1st of November, an 1,800-foot haul seine alone was used. From 1912 to 1917 
a set of two pound nets was operated throughout the season, and in addition an 
1,800-foot seine was used after about July 20. Finally, from 1918 to 1922 a set of 
two pound nets alone was used throughout the fishing seasons. Since the pound 
nets alone were used during the spring — that is, during the shad and herring runs — 
throughout the period of years covered by the records, the changes in apparatus do 
not apply to these species, and for them the data are directly comparable. Similarly, 
the data for the months of March, April, May, and June, for all the species, are 
directly comparable. 
VALUE OF THE RECORDS 
Tables and graphs (in so far as they seemed useful) have been prepared from 
the statistics in order to show the yearly fluctuations and the trend of the various 
species caught at this fishery. Regardless of the change in the apparatus employed, 
it seems probable that the tables serve the purpose not only of showing the trend in 
the abundance of the species commonly caught in pound nets in Lynnhaven Roads, 
but that, in a measure, they may reflect the general rise and fall in the abundance 
of these species over a series of years for the entire bay. We are unable to produce 
definite proof for the last-mentioned hypothesis as no statistics (exclusive of those 
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