Evening journal., 1915-05-31
This THE worst
SHAD season |NYEARS
Delicious Fish Coming in
Much Fewer Numbers Into
Delaware River
POLLUTION OF THE
RIVER is BLAMED

In 10 years the price OF snau hdS
increased 800 per cent. Why?
over at New Castle the fishermen
will tell any one who takes the trou-
BILE to ask that the reason is simple
the supply is diminishing. Naturally,
the next question is: Why is the
supply diminishing?
This time the answer is not so SIM
pie. There are several theories. The
first is, Of course, the pollution Of the
streams in which the shad come to
spawn. which kills the eggs deposited
there. Naturally a fish does not like
a polluted river. When it attempts
to run up a stream and finds the
water filled with strange and disgust
ing odors, the shad will turn back to
sea again and maybe seek another
stream.
Another reason given is the temper
ature of the streams. For some cause
or other, il seems the water has been
colder in later years. For instance,
this year the temperature of the Della
ware river has been from 40 10 80
degrees during the spawning season,
while the shad apparently likes the
water about from 4S to 50 degrees.
Shad a Mysterious Fish.
This has been an exceptionally bad
sea for shad. All through the season,
lasting from the beginning of March
to the present time there have been
gaps when no shad at all could be
bought At other times the shad was
poor and fish dealers would not guar
antee it. II was expensive, too. Ten
years ago in the middle of a Delaware
shad season. a good roe shad sold for
40 cents and buck for 25 cents. This
year fairly good roe shad cost $1.50.
II used to be that a family had a whole
shad, with a roe, for dinner. but this
year the average housewife purchased
either a half shad or a roe separately.
The shad is a peculiar fish. 1t is
spawned in the spring in one of the
rivers along the Atlantic coast OF
North America. Then il swims out OF
the river and is gone for a year.
Where IL goes nobody knows. Nobody
ever caught shad at sea. Evidently
they swim deep. The year after they
are spawned, however, they swim back
to the river from whence they came,
and the roe shad lays her eggs there
then leaves for unknown haunts again.
It is while the shad are on their
annual trip that they are caught. They
first appear in the rivers of Florida in
January. BY February they are in
the Carolinas, and around the first of
March they make their appearance in
the Delaware and Chesapeake. Later
they appear in New England. There
used to be immense shad fisheries all
along the Delaware, with nets stretch.
ed half way across the river, sup
plying millions of the delicious FISH tC
the markets. Now, however, the run
is not so heavy as formerly.
Sewage Disposal May Help.
The pollution of the Delaware had
killed millions of eggs in recent years
With fewer eggs Matched here, OF
course, fewer shad come back here
The towns up the river pour theil
offal into the Delaware and Scuylkill
the coal regions send down their filth
and Philadelphia itself adds to the
pollution. The Oil works are responsi.
BILE in some measure for conditions
TOO.
To keep the shad. several things
must be done. First, the streams mus
be made comparatively clear again
The construction of sewage-disposa
plants in the various cities of the
State will help. Some of the towns VI
the Delaware and Schuylkill already
have constructed these plants. Phila
delphia is still considering plans fol
its plant. which will cost many mil
lions When this is completed, prob
ably the shad will come back.
Next, something must be done will
the oil works 1t is hard to say wha
this will be. Probably the oil people
themselves will discover something {,
keep their product from leaking ou
and covering the surface of the water
They do not want TO. lose il any NOR
than the shad lovers want il TO cove
the river. However, nothing has beel
done in this connection thus far.
Finally. there is something beinl
dc and well done, to keep up tn
supply of spawn. Up in Torresdale
Pa, the State hatcheries are collecting
spawn and carefully treating il il
pure water-spawn that otherwis
might be killed by the pollution. i
this way they are Matching millions @
little fish and raising them until the
large enough to be put out into tn
river. These fish Immediately swir
to sea and will come back here mex
year. If it we're not for them, proba
bly, there void be no shad in tn
Delaware al all.