American Shad

Buying fish used to be a pretty simple matter. You sniffed the fish, you examined its eyes and you checked the gills. If the eyes were clear, the flesh didn't stink and the gills were not gooey, you had the fish for supper. But the other day before buying some shad, I felt compelled to research the background of the fish. I learned about its ecological status, its travel habits and the benefits and risks of eating it. I did more research on this purchase than I had done for some of the papers I had written in graduate school.

In 1984, fisheries biologists estimated that about 8,000American shad remained in the upper Chesapeake Bay. By 1995, after intensive restoration efforts, the estimated population had risen to more than 300,000.With the opening of fish lifts at Safe Harbor and Holtwood on the Susquehanna River in southeast Pennsylvania, the future of the American shad is brighter still.Combined with fish lifts opened at Conowingo Dam in 1991, the lifts to bypass hydroelectric dams at Safe Harbor and Holtwood have opened extensive spawning grounds that had been closed for 85 years.

The annual spawning run of shad and herring has ended on the Susquehanna River, and the fish lifts at Conowingo Dam recorded transport upriver of 103,945 American shad, a 70 percent increase over the record set in 1995.The east lift at Conowingo operated for 58 days and passed 90,071 American shad, 242,900 blue-back herring, 1,015 striped bass and 384,400 others, mostly gizzard shad.The average daily catch was 1,568, but during the peaks of the run on May 4, 9 and 18, catches ranged from 6,395 to 6,725.

CONOWINGO -- It's rush hour on the Susquehanna River.American shad, eager to complete their 1,000-mile commute from the Atlantic Ocean, are swimming up the Chesapeake Bay's largest tributary in numbers that haven't been seen for 20 years or more.And for the first time in nearly 70 years, the once-abundant migratory fish can make it 56 miles up the river under their own power -- with the help of some man-made power.Utilities that own three hydroelectric dams on the Susquehanna have built elevatorlike lifts to hoist fish over the concrete walls blocking their way.Home for these tasty but bony fish is the faster-flowing shallow water north of Harrisburg, Pa., where they can lay eggs and ensure their species' survival.

The annual young-of-the-year index for rockfish was announced yesterday as 59.3, the highest recorded in Maryland since the survey of spawning success began in 1954. (Related article, Page 1B.)But equally important is that the young-of-the-year indexes for virtually all other tidewater fish that spawn in the Chesapeake Bay's tributaries are up, as well."White perch, yellow perch, hickory shad, American shad -- all appear to be well-above the averages this year," said Don Cosden, who leads the Department of Natural Resources fisheries-service teams that complete the survey.

The total acreage of submerged grasses in the Chesapeake Bay is down. Blue crab populations may be dropping to cyclic lows, as bluefish already have.But American shad -- with much help from state and federal governments, industry and individuals -- may be making a comeback of sorts.The resurgence of shad has not reached the proportions of the recovery of rockfish, which in the past 10 years have re-established themselves in the bay and along the Atlantic Coast. Rather, shad are making slower progress.

Marylanders have always kept a close eye on the health o King Crab, but usually only after he has been properly steamed and seasoned.Market prices and available sizes at restaurants, seafood markets and carryout shops have been the primary public measures of change to the prodigious populations of these beautiful swimmers of the Chesapeake.Some years the delectable crustaceans are huge and abundant, other times they're scarce and small and costly. But that has always been the way with the cycle of nature.

WASHINGTON -- With many fish becoming scarce in th Chesapeake Bay and along the East Coast, anglers, environmentalists and state officials asked Congress yesterday to force coastal states to crack down on overfishing.Without federal intervention, some depleted fish populations such as American shad, flounder and weakfish may not recover, warned supporters of a bill sponsored by Rep. Gerry E. Studds, D-Mass.Mr. Studds, chairman of the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, introduced legislation last week that would require states from Maine to Florida to cooperate in protecting fish that migrate along the coast.

An interesting cooperative program has been started at Rocky Point Park and offers the opportunity for children and adults to learn to sail in quiet waters and at a reasonable cost.The Glenmar Community Sailing Center is a program of the Back River Neck Recreation Council, and its fleet of Dyer Dinks, Zephs and Catalina 22s is maintained by the Glenmar Sailing Club.George Culbertson, president of the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association, said the program falls in line with the CBYRA's "join the fun of sailing" theme.

State and private industries have signed an agreement to build three fish lifts on the Susquehanna River in southeastern Pennsylvania to enhance the recovery of American shad and other migratory fish.Last Tuesday in Harrisburg, Pa., officials from Maryland,Pennsylvania, environmental groups and utility companies set in motion plans to build fish lifts at hydroelectric dams at Holtwood, Safe Harbor and York Haven. Preliminary estimates of the cost of the projects range from $17 million to $30 million.

The number of shad migrating up the Susquehanna River in Maryland has fallen by almost half over the past year, part of a worrisome decline up and down the East Coast, scientists say. The drop means that counts of American shad at Conowingo Dam have fallen by more than 90 percent over the past seven years. That is a stark reversal from the 1990s, when the construction of fish lifts at dams - and bans on shad fishing - spurred a revival of what has been called "the founding fish" because of its dominance as a food in Colonial times.

Buying fish used to be a pretty simple matter. You sniffed the fish, you examined its eyes and you checked the gills. If the eyes were clear, the flesh didn't stink and the gills were not gooey, you had the fish for supper. But the other day before buying some shad, I felt compelled to research the background of the fish. I learned about its ecological status, its travel habits and the benefits and risks of eating it. I did more research on this purchase than I had done for some of the papers I had written in graduate school.

From the tiny viewing room at the top of Conowingo hydroelectric dam's fish elevator, Dick Williams ticked off a status report on the American shad in the Susquehanna River. It sounded promising as Williams clicked a metal counter in his hand each time one of the silvery, torpedo-shaped fish floated by. "Your eyes do bug-eye," said the Lancaster, Pa., retiree, who is working part time this spring to help count the elevator's catch. "You blink, and you might miss two fish." Small numbers?

From the tiny viewing room at the top of Conowingo hydroelectric dam's fish elevator, Dick Williams ticked off a status report on the American shad in the Susquehanna River. It sounded promising as Williams clicked a metal counter in his hand each time one of the silvery, torpedo-shaped fish floated by. "Your eyes do bug-eye," said the Lancaster, Pa., retiree, who is working part time this spring to help count the elevator's catch. "You blink, and you might miss two fish." Small numbers?

One of the broken links in the Chesapeake Bay's chain of life is being mended in the coffee-brown water of the upper Patuxent River. The shadbushes are blooming along the forested banks near Davidsonville. And beneath the water's surface, the shad are running, returning to spawn in the river's headwaters from points as far-flung as the Bay of Fundy. The bay's once-huge spring shad runs were nearly driven to extinction in the 1970s, forcing state officials to shut down the commercial fishery.

Leon Senft has been angling for American shad in the Susquehanna River for almost 50 years, long enough to remember the good old days before huge declines in springtime spawning runs led Maryland to close the season in 1980. But the York, Pa., fisherman says, "I never caught so many as in the last few years." Senft's fishing nowadays is all catch and release because shad runs on most Chesapeake Bay rivers remain extremely depressed and keeping any is forbidden in Maryland and Virginia.

WHEN I moved to Maryland in 1976, I met a lot of crusty old guys who spoke of a certain silvery fish the way other men spoke of great baseball players. "You should have seen Ted Williams' swing" had the same nostalgic ring as, "You should have seen the shad run in the Susquehanna." The message: You missed both, kid, and neither ain't never comin' back. Once upon a time, the sleek shad - "the poor man's salmon" - had appeared in breathtaking abundance. Capt. John Smith touted their thick numbers in his accounts of the Virginia colony and Chesapeake Bay. By the early 1800s, shad constituted the most important commercial catch on the Susquehanna River; millions of the long-distance swimmers ended up in nets there every spring.

The annual spawning run of shad and herring has ended on the Susquehanna River, and the fish lifts at Conowingo Dam recorded transport upriver of 103,945 American shad, a 70 percent increase over the record set in 1995.The east lift at Conowingo operated for 58 days and passed 90,071 American shad, 242,900 blue-back herring, 1,015 striped bass and 384,400 others, mostly gizzard shad.The average daily catch was 1,568, but during the peaks of the run on May 4, 9 and 18, catches ranged from 6,395 to 6,725.

In 1984, fisheries biologists estimated that about 8,000American shad remained in the upper Chesapeake Bay. By 1995, after intensive restoration efforts, the estimated population had risen to more than 300,000.With the opening of fish lifts at Safe Harbor and Holtwood on the Susquehanna River in southeast Pennsylvania, the future of the American shad is brighter still.Combined with fish lifts opened at Conowingo Dam in 1991, the lifts to bypass hydroelectric dams at Safe Harbor and Holtwood have opened extensive spawning grounds that had been closed for 85 years.

CONOWINGO -- It's rush hour on the Susquehanna River.American shad, eager to complete their 1,000-mile commute from the Atlantic Ocean, are swimming up the Chesapeake Bay's largest tributary in numbers that haven't been seen for 20 years or more.And for the first time in nearly 70 years, the once-abundant migratory fish can make it 56 miles up the river under their own power -- with the help of some man-made power.Utilities that own three hydroelectric dams on the Susquehanna have built elevatorlike lifts to hoist fish over the concrete walls blocking their way.Home for these tasty but bony fish is the faster-flowing shallow water north of Harrisburg, Pa., where they can lay eggs and ensure their species' survival.