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Potomac River Pound-Net Survey, Summers 1996-1997 : 1998 Final Report, Herbert M. Austin, Kevin Hovel, William Connelly, Andrea Goodnight

Reports

The pound net (Fig 1) is a fixed fishing structure that intercepts fish as they migrate up- or down-river. Fish weirs made of stakes were first used by the Native Americans along the east coast of the English Colonies and were the model for the later development of the pound net. Pound nets were first used in New England around 1850; and were subsequently introduced to Long Island in 1855. A Captain Henry Fitzgerald is reported to have erected the first Chesapeake Bay pound net in 1858, but it failed due to its poor construction. No further attempts were made …