408 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
that the first shad brought from the Hudson River iu 1871 have beeu to the ocean, returned, and 
spawned. No shad were placed in the river during the years 1874 and 1875, yet shad two years old 
were quite numerous this year, and they must have been the product of the first importation. It may 
be safely asserted that we now have shad born in the Sacramento. As it is illegal to take this fish 
prior to December of this year, probably there has been no systematic fishing for them, yet numbers 
have been accidentally caught in traps and nets; probably not less than 1,000 were thus taken during 
the winter and spring of 1877. They return from the ocean at an earlier season of the year than in 
the northern Atlantic States, in this respect corresponding to the periods when they return to the 
rivers of South Carolina and Georgia. The first reported this year were taken in Sonoma Creek, 
January 6; the latest two at Sacramento, June 20. These latter were full-grown fish, a male and a 
female, on their return to the ocean after having visited their spawning-grounds. * * * We are 
frequently urged to make larger importations of shad and fill the rivers immediately. This is impos- 
sible with the appropriation at our disposal. * * * We believe, however, that by 1878 shad will be 
sufficiently numerous in the Sacramento to warrant the attempt at taking ripe fish for the purpose of 
artificial hatching in our own waters. Should we be successful, we can save the expense and risk of 
importation, and all our appropriate rivers can in a few years be filled with this valuable fish. Having 
this in view, we would respectfully ask that you recommend the passage of a law restricting the catch- 
ing of shad at all other times except between January 1 and April 1 of each year. This, if faithfully 
observed, would give part of the fish an opportunity to reach their spawning-places. 
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It is well known that salmon, after going to the ocean, invariably return to the river of their 
birth for the purpose of reproduction, and this was supposed to be the instinct of the shad, yet we 
have information of shad having been taken at Wilmington, and others in Russian River, * * * 
points on the coast separated by more than 400 miles. It may be possible that as these fish become 
more numerous they will return in schools to the Sacramento, the young following their elders who 
have once made the journey. Should they continue to enter different rivers oil their return from the 
ocean, they will soon stock all on the coast that are appropriate to them. 
During the spring of 1879 several thousand mature shad were sold in San Fran- 
cisco, and it was reported by the fish commissioners that a few were found in the 
markets almost every month. In 1880 it was stated that they were beginning to 
increase by natural reproduction, as specimens of all sizes were found in the Sacra- 
mento River and Monterey Bay. Up to 18S3 their increase was regarded as marvelous 
and the supply was considered as almost unlimited. During that year a law was in 
force forbidding their capture, but enough were incidentally taken to show their great 
abundance. In 1885 and 1886 numberless young shad were reported to be hatched in 
the tule lakes in the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta, and the supply was said to equal 
if not exceed the demand; the California fish commissioners estimated that a million 
good-sized shad were taken from the waters of the State in 1886. 
At the present time the shad is one of the most abundant fishes of California, and 
the quantity taken, while actually less than that estimated iu 1886, is enormous, and 
the wholesale and retail prices are less than in any other State. 
In 1882 shad were taken in Rogue River, in southern Oregon, and have since been 
reported from time to time in other small coast rivers of the State. 
Shad were taken in the Columbia River as early as 1876 or 1877. As fry were first 
artificially introduced into the basin of the Columbia in 1885, it is clear that the fish 
planted in California were the pioneers in the Columbia, although there is no reason to 
doubt that the large numbers of fry planted directly in that stream augmented the 
existing supply. 
In a paper on the fishes of the Pacific Coast of the United States, published in 
the report of the California fish commission for 1880, Prof. W. U. Lockington refers 
to the taking of two specimens of the .shad in the Columbia by Prof. D. S. Jordan. 
