The Fishing Industry in Pennsylvania

American Shad

            The American shad is a silver-colored fish with a greenish band along its back and dark spots along the top of its sides. This species is the largest member of the herring family. In weight, American shad average from four to seven pounds and can be anywhere between 16 and 30 inches long.

Prior to the late 1800s, large groups of American shad grew to maturity in the Atlantic Ocean, and then made their way up rivers in April and May. After reaching the Pennsylvania waters Read More
of the Schuylkill, Susquehanna, and Delaware Rivers, the American shad laid their eggs called roe to develop into baby fish. This process is called spawning.

In the early days of America, the Lenape Native Americans caught the fish during its upriver migration. The Lenape used nets made from brush or grass. They made the grass nets from the triangle-shaped stem of sedge grass. These would have been a seine-like net which the fishermen used as a barrier to halt the fish’s swim upstream.

To make brush nets, the Lenape placed stakes in a semi-circle in the water. They filled in between the stakes with brush gathered from the surrounding countryside. The fish would have been driven into the brush trap. When either net trapped shad, the Lenape speared them.

In Pennsylvania, the Dutch and the Swedes had the earliest shad fisheries, where they processed fish to sell. When people process fish, they make them ready to eat by removing the insides and cutting off the heads, fins, and tails. Some kinds of fish also need their tough scales or outside skin taken off.

During the 1800s, shad was the second most popular fish below cod. Fishing for shad had such importance that other kinds of factories along shad fishing grounds started later in the morning so that their employees could fish before coming to work. In the Delaware River region, the town of Fishtown began because of its shad fisheries.

To be continued...

References

“American Shad.” U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. March 14, 2017. Web 15 Jan 2018 <https://www.fws.gov/fisheries/fishmigration/american_shad.html>

“Delaware Bay’s Bounty: Commercial Fishing in the Estuary.” Estuary News, Summer 2013, Vol. 23, Issue 4. Web 24 April 2017 <http://udel.edu/~spyzguyz/images/CommercialFishingPDE.pdf>

Fisher, MD, George R. “Philadelphia Fish and Fishing.” Philadelphia Reflections,  2004 - 2017  Web 24 2017 <http://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/topic/33.htm>

Jenk, Torben and Remer, Rich. “American Shad Timeline Along the Delaware River.” Workshop of the World.com. 2006. Web 15 Jan 2018 <http://www.workshopoftheworld.com/resources/shad_timeline.html>

“The River as an Employer.” Delaware Riverkeeper Network. Web 16 May 2017 <http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/sites/default/files/Environment_&_Economy.pdf>