Shad Fishing Along the Delaware River

The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of a Historic River Industry

1890 illustration of shad fishermen on the Delaware River off Gloucester City.
A 1890 Harpers Weekly illustration from life of shad fishing in the Delaware River off Gloucester, New Jersey. Throughout the 1800s, the Delaware was the east coast’s most famous shad fishery.

Just as the opening of fishing season is highly anticipated today, “shad runs” in years past in the Delaware River opened on March 20 of each year when the shad began making their way up the river. Within a few weeks, shad fishing season was open. The close of the season was usually in mid-June. Shad nets were strung along the river from Fortescue to Trenton. The Delaware was arguably the most famous shad fishing ground on the East Coast.

Initially, shore fishing by seine was the norm. Seine fisheries required a gradually sloping sand beach to land the catch. The seine method involved casting the net from a boat propelled by sixteen to twenty oarsmen with twenty oars. Windlasses were operated by men and horses to draw in the net. The seines were made of heavy golden Irish twine and the bottom line was heavily leaded. The top line was floated with hundreds of saucer-sized corks. As it was drawn in from both ends, the circle decreased in size until the catch occupied the remaining space and the fish were scooped into the vessels.

Seine vs. Gill Net Fishing

By as early as 1800, that was replaced by gill net fishing. Gill fishing was considered detrimental to the many shore fisheries lining the banks of the Delaware and on November 25, 1808, an act was passed to prohibit the use of drift nets or gill nets. In our Gloucester County Documents Collection, we have many fishery bonds signed by the owners or lease holders bonding themselves to the County on the condition that they would obey the 1808 law or face penalties. After about 20+ years, the act was no longer enforced.

1700's illustration of shad fishermen using a seine net on the Delaware River off Philadelphia.
A late 1700s picture drawn from life by copperplate engraver Cornelius Tiebout shows men fishing shad with a seine net on the Delaware River near Philadelphia. Seine nets had a very tight weave and where rowed out from the shore to encircle schools of fish in a bag-like way and then dragged back in, bringing the catch directly to shore. Gil nets were much larger and deployed on the open water from larger boats. They had a looser weave that was designed to trap fish by the gills and they could catch much larger quantifies of fish.

In 1828, Alexander A. Powell employed his first gill net of sixty fathoms (360 feet) from Gloucester to Red Bank. His employees drifted his net from his home on the shore to the cove at what is now Eagle Point.

1913 Photo of shad fishermen on the Delaware at Washington Park, NJ.
1913 Tourists at Washington Park watch the shad fisherman as well as enjoy the shoreline amusement park’s other attractions.

In 1886, the fishery at Gloucester was leased to William J. Thompson and William Guy. The net used by Thompson and Guy was 575 fathoms in length (3,450 feet) and twenty fathoms (120 feet) in depth with lines over four miles long. At the time, it was the largest net for shad fishing on the Delaware River.
Other fisheries along the river and its waterways were at Cork’s Cove, Ladd’s Cove, Howell’s Cove, Whitall’s, Eagle Point, Fancy Hill all in West Deptford and Hugg’s, Clark’s and Champion’s at Gloucester City and many others too numerous to mention. During shad season, visitors would crowd the shores to watch the river men cast their nets and bring in their haul. Visitors to Gloucester County’s famous amusement park, Washington Park on the Delaware, were able to fish and watch the fisherman while enjoying the many attractions at the park. Area residents came each spring to purchase shad and herring which they transported home in wagons to preserve by smoking and salting.

Planked shad dinners gained popularity about 1876 courtesy of advertisements in New Jersey and Philadelphia newspapers. Held at many locations including the Buena Vista House at Gloucester Point, the Buck Tavern in Westville and “Billy” Thompson’s hotel at Washington Park in West Deptford, the fish was prepared by heating a hickory or white oak plank on a high heat over coals. The three-to-five-pound shad roe, fresh from the river and split down the back, was seasoned and cooked on the plank over the fire for thirty to forty-five minutes. The planked shad was usually served with waffles and locally grown new potatoes, fresh peas and asparagus. Shad dinners had become a seasonal delicacy.

The Shad Fishing Heyday

One of the most prolific fishing areas in Gloucester County was the Billingsport section of Paulsboro. It was known for having one of the best shad banks. Men would fish until their boats were loaded with thousands of shad per day. Shad were sold inexpensively at $48 per thousand at the Philadelphia Dock Street market. Once a lucrative occupation, a fisherman could catch 15,000 or more shad in a season, pay all his bills and put aside money for the rest of the year.

Fresh caught shad still in the boat.
Fresh caught shad still in the boat on ice.

Several months of intense work during shad season on the Delaware could provide a 19th-century fisherman with a comfortable living for the rest o the year.
Most relied on working at other types of fishing or trades in the offseason. About 1910, Paulsboro’s Ed Cowgill modernized the shad industry in Paulsboro by using a gasoline powered boat to replace the older gill skiffs with their square topsails. Other fishermen soon followed suit. Some plied their nets as far south as the Delaware Bay and lived on the water in flat-bottomed house boats.

Pollution Destroyed the Industry

By 1919, shad fishing in the river, once a major industry, was no longer even a minor occupation. The few oil-soaked shad netted were not consumable. Other species also mostly absent were sturgeon, rockfish, perch and black catfish. Instead of the large fishing cabins dotting the shore along the river, the fishing was done by two-man crews in power boats who would drift their gill nets on the tide and feel fortunate to catch a dozen fish.

By 1935, with pollution contaminating the river, an entire season would net perhaps 2,500 shad and prices soared. Oily waste and chemicals from tankers and industrial plants killed the young shad and kept the adult fish from reaching their natural spawning grounds in the upper river.

Shad Fishermen's Association logo.
Logo of the modern-day Delaware River Shad Fisherman’s Association

New laws and an aggressive environmental protection effort in the second half of the 20th century cleaned up the Delaware enough to bring back the shad as well as the fishermen.

New Environmental Laws Bring Shad Back

In the mid-twentieth century, the pollution may have been at its worst resulting in most shad being unable to move through the dirtiest section of the river (roughly from Philadelphia south to the Delaware Memorial Bridge). Beginning in the 1970s, cooperative efforts by government and conservation organizations in the tristate area were in place to tag shad. The movements of the tagged shad could then be tracked. New laws were enacted to protect the river environment and large companies were held accountable for their part in the pollution. As a result, the river waters are much cleaner, and the shad population has increased. Today’s fishermen are celebrating the return of the shad in the Delaware River.

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Barbara Price is the Librarian of the Gloucester County Historical Society


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