The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1906-08-02

The shad, it is announced by Gov
eminent authority, has reachsG Alas
ka and is now running UP into and
spawning in the rivers OF our Arctic
province, says the Philadelphia Rec
ord.
This must be regarded as a very
remarkable piece OF news. when it is
considered that the shad is not a
Pacific fish at all, but a species be-
longing exclusively to the Atlantic
Ocean.
It is owing solely to the efforts Of
the United States Fisheries Bureau
that the shad, through artificial
planting" has become an inhabi-
tant OF the rivers OF the Pacific slope.
Introduced q few years ago into the
Sacramento and Columbia, it has al
ready become so numerous that the
catch this year is expected to reach
3,0OO,0 900 pounds. OF its own &C
cord it has made its way in the other
streams along the coast, running up
them to spawn; and, proceeding far
tc the north, it has reached Puget
Sound, and, as above stated. is now
f~requenting the rivers OF Southern
Alaska.
Considering merely the rivers of
the Atlantic coast, the miracle which
the Fisheries Bureau mas wrought in
TIE propagation o: snad is OF so vast
Z scale that it can hardly De said TO
have been appreciated by the public
at large. People eat shai every
spring, but do not realize that no
such fish would De on the market
{saYe rarely, and At very high cost,
II it were not for artificial planting.
They do not take in" the fact that
three out of four OF the shad which
appear on their tables were original
~ Matched in & glass jar, and after
ward liberated, as minnoWs, in the
river waters.
? The shad would be almost extinct
to-day, commercially speaking, but
for the efforts Of the Government to
preserve and multiply its species.
Fw8ty-6Ve yeeTs ago lhs fishery,
through reckless 5.buse, was threat
ened with destruction, the catch d.
minishing ear by year. Tie tidal
rivers along the Atlantic coast were
Eeset with nets and weirs so thickly
that practically every shad that ran
UP to spawn was captured. But the
Bureau of Fisheries, p~erceiViLg that
no time was to be lost, o the mat
ter up and proceeded to collect shad
eggs by millions, Matching them in
glass Jars and liberating the young
fry in the streams.
For half a dozen years the result
was in doubt, because it takes that
length of time for a shad TO grow up
and get ready to breed. But by 1887
the first Gar crop" --ad matured,
and, entering the rivers to spawn,
sTelled the catch considerably. The
Improvement in the fishery was was
progressive from that tine On and
the take" which in 1881 was only
$780, 600 fish, had risen in 1898 to
L $500, 000-a gain of 100000
shad per annum. This means an in
crease OF about 10000, 900 pounds
per annum, which, reckoned at only
five cents a pound wholesale price,,
represents a clear profit of $4,000
coo a year-enougn to pay the en-
tire cost Of running the Fisheries
Bureau three times over.
The upshot of the affair is that the
Government now has the fishery
Under its absolute control. There
are just as many shad in the rivers
as it chooses to Put there, aid, if it
wished, it could fairly crowd the
streams with them. At the present
time the Fisheries Bureau contents
itself with Matching from 2O0,0O0,000
to 400, 100000 shad eggs each
spring, this number being sufficient
to maintain the annual eaten at
about IA, 100000 shad per annum-
allowing the fishermen to prosecute
their industry as ruthlessly rs they
choose.
The principal shad-hatching sta
lions are three in number, main
tanned on the Potomac, -Susquehanna
and Delaware Rivers. At these sta
tions there are immense batteries"
Of Matching Jars, arranged in groups
Of hundreds together.
When it is considered that one
fair-sized roe shad shall furnish
about $4,000 eggs it will DE seen that
not so very many fishes are required
to yield a million. Most Of the eggs
are collected by agents Of the Fish
cries Bureau, who go out in the fish
erman's boats and 'strip" the fe-
males into glass r~eceptac1es. adding
"miIt' from the males in the same
for fertilization. They
z2ake a point of picking out only the
largest and finest shad, with a view
tc improving the species by such arti-
fetal selection.
Each OF the glass Matching Jars
holds about $4,000 eggs, which re.
Guire from four to ten days to hatch
according to the temperature of the
water. AS fast as the tiny fishes
come out the spherical capsules
from which they emerge fall to the
bottom Of the jar, being heavier thar
the water, while @he living "fry'
rise toward the top and are carried
r - 80 III --14~~ (r-Iso[ -, To-.