The evening times., 1900-02-15

The large fisheries on the Potomac
River below this city sre making extern
sive preparations for the fishing season
which will begin soon. The river will
soon be netted with seines Of all descrip-
tions for the purpose OF hauling ir the
wary herring. rockhsh, and shad.
A very small portion Of the inhabitants
OF the city of Washington with the ex-
ception OF those who love the sport of the
rod. know OF the immense amount Of fish,
ing done on the Potomac by various com
panies. and of the manner and method
Of catching the FISH.
The superintendent Of the exhibition
rooms OF the Fish Commission Building
esting facts regarding the manner in which
the fish are caught. and some statements
showing the remarkable amount of het-
ting swung in the river during the fishing
season
The fishing for rockfsh, shad. and her
ring will commepsP about the lst Of March
and will continU, probably until the mid
die Of May.
Most Of the FISH caught in the Potomac
will be below Washington. and the fishing
will be done principally by the companies
and Maryland.
The fish are caught by seines. trap acts.
and drift net The seines are the princi-
pal means Of hauling in the fish A seine
is a long net averaging from fifteen 10
thirty feet in width and from @One-half TO
two miles in length. When these seines
are used one end is fastened 10 large
boat OF twenty TO forty oars which leaves
Jhc fishing shore and Is rowed up stream
and around in a semi-circle returning 10
the starting point. Here With the assist
ance Of the current OF the stream the ends
are drawI slowly in by a windlass oper-
ated by horse or steam power. The i'm
mcuSe loop becomes smaller and smaller
and finally the seine Is drawn on shore
and the catch o. FISH is emptied out
The trap nets are very interesting also.
and in these uets are caught great guam
titles Of FISH. They are stationary and are
so cleverly erected that the fish are led
into them and cannot find their way out.
They come ir contact with single net
and in following e are led into an enclos-
ure They follow the walls and go still
farther into -econd enclosure. and here
the walls are constructed so that IL hap
pens that FISH rarely escapes. In all
there are $50 trap nets on The river OF
which 2I5 are on the Virginia side and the
remainder on the Maryland shore.
The seine nearest the bay is situated
on the Virginia shore at Aqua Greek and
iJ is zoe fathums long. This one fishery
employs about twenty five men. The FISH
cry adjacent 20 this is the Gums fishery.
managed b. Ballinger Gibson. They use
500 fathOIcs Of seine employ twenty-five
men. and have three horses 10 furnish the
power for their windlass. The Stoney
Point is next in line toward Washington
and is managed by Ballinger & Gibson.
They wind SEQ fathoms OF net over their
windlass and employ forty men.
The next fishery is noted as being the
largest seine fishery in the world. They
have 600 fathoms Of net. and their wind
lass is operated by steam. In their en-
ploy are eighty men. All OF the fisheries
described thus far are on the Virginia
side Of the Potomac, The fishery nearest
the bay on the Maryland side is located
al Chanmau's Point. and is managed by
George A. Gale. Of Baltimore. He employs
forty men and uses $50 fathoms Of net
He operates entirely for shad and herring.
and salts more herring than any fishery
on the river. Heron & Lindsay are the
two controllers Of the fishery situated al
Bar Landing on the Maryland shore. They
use here $50 fathoms OF net aud al MoX-
ley's point they control fishery where
they have 800 fathOms OF seine. Henry and
George Raum control fisheries at Tulip Hin
and Tent Landing Maryland. respectively.
which FISH with J75 fathoms Of seine and
employ twenty y-Gyv men
The theory held by many OF the old fish
ermen that shad are becoming scarce is un-