414 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
conditions for the development of young shad being excellent; there is a large amount 
of vegetable growth around the shores and in the ponds, insuring an abundance of 
minute animal and vegetable food. The water runs out of the tule ponds less rapidly 
than the tide falls in the river, so that at low tide there is quite a fall at the breaks 
in the embankments; and, on the other hand, when the tide is coming in the tule 
ponds receive the water less rapidly through the narrow entrances than it rises in 
the river, and consequently there is a fall from the river into the ponds. 
Regarding the presence of young shad in the San Francisco Bay region, Mr. 
Alexander remarks : 
Young shad are observed the year round, hut they seem to be more numerous in the early part of 
the summer, when the weather is warm. They are mostly seen in and close to lagoons, sloughs, and 
in shallow places in the bay. Drag-seine fishermen, when fishing for bottom species, frequently catch 
young shad, but a person who brings them to market is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine. 
In consequence of this law, young shad are not exposed for sale, but are thrown away. In this 
manner thousands of shad fry are said to be annually destroyed. 
Monterey Bay has, by some, been regarded as a spawning-ground for shad, but 
the waters of the bay must offer very slight inducements to shad, owing to the 
absence of fresh water streams of any importance. The largest stream, the Solinas 
River, is shallow, short, and at times muddy, and it is doubtful if shad ever enter it; 
there is no record of the capture of shad at or near the entrance to the river. It 
therefore seems probable that Monterey Bay is a feeding and resting ground for shad 
that are bound for the Golden Gate, or for fish that have withdrawn from the fresh 
waters of the Sacramento region. 
The inquiries of Mr. Alexander in the basin of the Columbia River led him to 
believe that the shad in that region spawn in May, June, and July. This conforms 
with the testimony of fishermen, dealers, and the State fish commissioners. The 
spawning-grounds are said to extend from the vicinity of Grays Bay to within about 
40 miles of the Willamette; at least, that is where most of the fish with ripe eggs are 
caught, and it is naturally presumed that this is the general spawning-ground, the 
water and environments being supposed to be better suited to the fecundation of the 
eggs than elsewhere on the river. Young shad are very numerous during the whole of 
the salmon season and sometimes become a nuisance to trap fishermen. Small and 
large fish are found together and taken in all the traps in the river from Ilwaco to 
the Cowlitz River, more particularly in those situated off Chinook, Grays Bay, and 
Knappton. At times both large and small shad are abundant off Cottonwood Island, 
near the mouth of the Cowlitz River. 
ABUNDANCE OF SHAD ON THE WEST COAST. 
The present catch of shad in the Columbia River, Sacramento River, and San 
Francisco Bay and tributaries affords only an imperfect conception of the quantities 
of the fish occurring in those centers of its abundance. Dealers and fishermen say 
that it would be easily possible, should occasion require it, to treble or quadruple the 
quantity of shad now taken, by the use of proper apparatus and by carrying on the 
fishery with regularity and vigor. 
In the Sacramento- San Joaquin delta, in the waters between the Golden Gate 
and the mouth of the Sacramento River, and in the lower Columbia River, shad exist 
in incredible numbers. It is probably safe to say that in either the Sacramento or 
the Columbia basin more shad could now be taken than in any other water-course in 
