ACCLIMATIZATION OF FISH IN THE PACIFIC STATES. 
415 
the United States, but whether these west coast streams would long maintain such 
extensive fishing as is prosecuted annually in the Potomac, Delaware, and Hudson 
rivers is another question. 
In all the streams where the shad is regularly found, each year’s run shows an 
apparent increase over the preceding season. Under the existing conditions of the 
fishery, which result in the taking of only a small percentage of this fish, their further 
rapid increase in abundance may be expected. 
In the lower courses of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, in San Francisco 
Bay and the bays emptying into it, the shad is exceedingly numerous and appears to 
be increasing rapidly. Mr. Alexander states that in 1893 many fishermen and dealers 
in that region assured him that shad were then five times more abundant than they 
were three years before. During the early part of the summer of 1891 and 1892, shad 
were caught in such numbers and were sent to San Francisco in such quantities that 
thousands of pounds were thrown away weekly. 
WEIGHT AND SIZE OF SHAD IN WATERS OF THE PACIFIC. 
At a very early period it became evident that the waters of California were favor- 
able to the growth of shad. It is probably a fact that the fish there attains a larger 
size than on the Atlantic Coast. It is also doubtless true that the average size of the 
fish taken for market is greater than in the East. This may in part be due to the use 
of nets with large meshes. 
The average weight of the shad caught for market in California at the present 
time is over 1 pounds. The same differences in the size of the sexes which exist on 
the Atlantic Coast are observed in the West. On all the fishing-grounds large numbers 
of relatively small fish occur, which, if caught, would reduce the average, but the use 
of large-meshed gill nets keeps up the average, and as long as a conspicuous part of 
the catch continues to be taken in nets set primarily for salmon the high average will 
be maintained. 
Ho shad as large as those sometimes taken in California waters have in recent years 
been reported from the east coast, and it is probable that no authentic record for the 
Atlantic rivers surpasses or even equals several verified instances of the capture of 
large shad ou the Pacific Coast. 
Iii 1880, Mr. W. N. Lockingtou recorded a shad sold that year in the San Francisco 
market that was 26 inches long, 94 inches deep, and weighed 8£ pounds. Another 
of the same dimensions, but somewhat lighter, was sold in 1879. In 1885, some that 
weighed from 8 to 10 pounds were reported to be commonly taken, and of late even 
larger examples have been observed. 
At times in recent years comparatively large consignments of shad received at 
San Francisco from the Sacramento region have been made up of fish whose average 
weight was 6 pounds or more. A large number of shad seen by the writer in San 
Francisco, May 24, 1894, weighed from 6 to 7 pounds. All the fish-dealers of that city 
report shad weighing 10, 11, and 12 pounds. 
Reports of the taking of shad weighing 16 and even 18 pounds have been received, 
but they can not be verified. Records of the capture in the Sacramento of several 
specimens with a weight of 14 pounds can, however, be relied on, although such large 
fish must be extremely rare. 
Since most of the shad taken in the Columbia River are obtained by means of traps 
and seines with a relatively fine mesh, the average weight of the fish caught is less 
