202 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
fished by the IT. S. Fish Commission, was a large source of supply, yielding about 8 
per cent of ripe fish, or at the rate of about 2,000 eggs to each fish caught, males and 
females combiued, and was the highest producing of all the seines.* Had all other 
fisheries been equally productive, the annual receipts at the Fort Washington collecting 
station would have easily reached 300,000,000. But we find that while this seine with 
a catch of 10,000 fish would afford 20,000,000 eggs, and another with a catch of 18,000 
fish would produce 17,000,000 eggs, a third with a catch of 60,000 fish would yield 
only about 1,000,000 eggs. 
These inequalities in production, at fisheries near together and surrounded by the 
same general conditions, led to an inquiry into the underlying causes, the effects of 
which were so apparent. A study of the subject demonstrated that not only was the 
largest production of eggs derived from seines operated in river areas traversed by 
creek currents, but also that the most constant supplies were from those areas, and 
also that the eggs from those sources were better in quality (though none from the 
seines were so good as those from gill nets, the latter ranking highest always). It 
was further observed that the greatest and most invariable egg supply from gill-net 
fishermen was derived from nets sweeping the channel bank below creeks and in the 
currents of creek mouths. It is to be regretted that exact data can not be presented 
here in support of the belief entertained, showing in comparative tabular form the 
catch and egg-production of the various fisheries, but the catch was either unrecorded 
by fishermen or else not reported by the agents frequenting the shores and gill boats. 
Before reviewing the fisheries in respect to their egg-production and relative situa- 
tion to creek mouths, I would call attention to another feature of the spawning, or 
rather non-spawning habit of shad, viz : that there are particular stretches of river, 
within the spawning region, which are apparently wholly barren of ripe fish. An 
example of this kind is witnessed in the Roanoke River, between its mouth and Kitty- 
Hawk and Slade’s fisheries, situated above Plymouth, North Carolina, a distance of 
perhaps 15 miles. Between these points 10,000 to 15,000 shad are captured annually, 
in six or more seines, and among them no ripe fish are found. Striped bass, too, are 
caught in these seines by thousands, but • while they are known to spawn only a few 
miles below, as well as many miles above, at Weldon, none spawn here. Fairly satis- 
factory examinations of tlie shad catch on the Neuse River also, from its mouth to a 
distance of 16 miles above, indicates an absence of ripe fish, they being so scarce as 
*The record of operations of this seine will serve a useful purpose for comparative studies. 
Twenty-three per cent of the Potomac eggs have been derived from it, the numbers secured during 
the first four years being as follows : 1,089,000 in 1883, 6,000,000 in 1884,7,280,000 iu 1885, and 11,848,000 
in 1886. The details of subsequent production are shown in the statement which follows: 
Year. 
Total eggs 
obtained. 
No. of 
spawn- 
ing lisli 
Per cent 
of spawn- 
ing fish. 
Total 
catch 
of adult 
shad. 
Catch 
of male 
fish. 
Catch of 
female 
fish. 
Per cent 
of male 
fish. 
Per cent 
of female 
fish. 
Average 
eggs per 
spawning 
fish. 
Average 
eggs per 
Female 
cauglit. 
Average 
eggs per 
fish 
caught. 
1887 .... 
20, 956, 000 
652 
6.3 
10, 348 
7,388 
2, 960 
71.4 
28.6 
32, 100 
7, 080 
2, 010 
1888 .... 
22, 657, 000 
688 
6. 1 
11,212 
7, 760 
3,552 
69.2 
30.8 
32, 900 
6, 380 
2, 020 
1889 .... 
17, 738, 000 
612 
9.8 
6, 217 
3, 254 
2, 963 
52.3 
47.7 
28, 980 
6, 000 
2, 690 
2, 220 
189U .... 
10, 262, 000 
468 
10.1 
4, 606 
2, 503 
2, 103 
54.3 
45.7 
21, 900 
4,870 
1891 
5, 276, 000 
228 
7.2 
3, 138 
1, 793 
1,345 
57. 1 
42.9 
23, 140 
3,920 
1, 670 
Annual 
average 
15, 377. 000 
530 
7.9 
7, 104 
4, 540 
2, 585 
60.8 
39.2 
27, 800 
5, 650 
2. 122 
