Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-06-11
sHAD ARE DOOMED.
Determination of the Toothsome Fish
 Seems Certain.


 Improved methods used by fisher men in capturing the shad and the shad roe as they enter the mouths of the rivers on the Atlantic coast to spawn, are almost certainly accom- plishing their extermination in spite of all that the fisheries bureau can do. The season has just opened up and there is less chance of the fish reach ing spawning ground than previous years for the enterprising fishermen, not content to take their fish up the river after they had gotten into fresh water where the spawn will be safe, are stretching their nets as far out to sea as possible. In former years the bureau of fisheries was able to cap ture as high as 210,000,000 eggs in the Susquehanna river, as opposed to S,000,000 last year. On the Delaware river, where the catch has gone as high as 5,000,o00. it last year fell be- low 500,000, while on the Potomac 1t fell from 68,000, 900 to 12,000,000. Sim liar conditions exist in all streams along the coast and are rapidly grow ing worse.
 This condition is due, not to the ab- sence of captured fish or to inactivity on the part of the bureau, but to the improved methods at present used by fishermen in capturing the fish. Shad always spawn in fresh water. and they come into the rivers and their tribu. taries in search of spawning grounds. At other seasons of the year they live in the open waters of the ocean. In the spawning season they were known to be so plentiful years ago in. the Poto- mac and tributaries of the Chesapeake that t was with difficulty that a boat could be pushed among them. Captain John Smith found them so when, in early Jamestown days. he pushed a small boat up the Potomac to a water fall above Washington which stopped their advance. His report of this find ing was one of the early wonders of America that was carried back to Eng land.
 This running" of the fish arises from the fact that their eggs are rem dered worthless if they come in con tact with salt water, so the instinct of the fish causes them to seek inland streams and as a consequence in the spawning season these streams are alive with them when they are not interfered with. The knowledge of these facts on the part of the fisher men is, however, the downfall and the doom of the shad. for the fishermen have taken advantage of the annual pilgrimage to fresh water, and have set their nets and traps accordingly. and when the fish start for fresh wa ter they are brought into captivity and are quickly transported to mar ket.
 This fact was not in the beginning of the operation of the bureau of fish cries such a material disadvantage. for the fishermen had not then gone beyond the mouths of the rivers, and great numbers of the fish caught spawned while in captivity and the spawn was aftificially matched and used in restocking the streams. But now this process is not possible. for the reason that the nets are placed | far beyond the mouths of the rivers. and If the fish are caught and held In captivity, in the mean time spawning. the spawn immediately comes in con tact with salt water. which means the death of the life germ in the egg. The fisherman who formerly set their seines in the waters of the streams have found that more enterprising fishermen have gone still further down and are catching the fish ahead of them. This has led the first fishermen to go ahead of the second. and the process has continued until they have got as far to sea as 1t Is possible to set a net Shad on the market are little less plentiful now than in for mer years. but thIs fact is due not 10 su equal abundance in the streams. but the improved facilities on the part of the fishermen in capturing them The demand for the fish has steadily increased. and the popularity of sh2d roe has led to increased activity oH the part of the fishermen. The prob abilities are that both the fish and the roe will. Ia a few seasons. become a rare luxury. and it's total exhaustion a. --S~4 ~a a ~n~exn~ of n~-.na~a