NEWS FROM THE DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL 
June 2, 2009
Vol. 39, No. 248

For more information, contact Mike Stangl, Fisheries Biologist, 302-739-4782, or Joanna Wilson, Public Affairs, 302-739-9902.

DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife Releases
700,000 American Shad Fry into Nanticoke River

American shad are an important link in the Nanticoke River and Chesapeake Bay ecosystem, serving as a food source for largemouth and striped bass, as well as providing a tasty table treat prized by recreational and commercial fisherman. With their numbers in the Nanticoke dwindling, the native East Coast species is the focus of a long-term restoration program under the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife.

This spring, the Division’s Nanticoke Shad Hatchery near Bethel gave the river’s shad stock a big “jump start” by hatching and releasing approximately 713,000 shad fry into the upper Nanticoke River and its tributaries. This year’s release is the largest number of fry produced by the hatchery since operations began in 2005, up from last year’s record 574,000.

With the cooperation of local landowners providing stream access, beginning on April 15 the Division collected 97 adult American shad from spawning grounds in the Nanticoke River and Deep Creek and transported them to the hatchery’s 4,000 gallon circular tank to spawn naturally. 

About three days after hatching, fry were released into the Nanticoke, Delaware’s primary tributary to the Chesapeake Bay.  By nurturing and hatching the shad eggs in this controlled environment, natural predation on the eggs and the fry at a critical stage of their life cycle was eliminated, increasing their rate of survival. 

Once spawning at the hatchery was completed, the adults were released back into the Nanticoke River to return to the sea. The shad fry will remain in the river and bay for their first year of life before migrating to the ocean until they mature in four to six years. American shad do not die after spawning as some salmon do and may return to their natal river in the Mid-Atlantic region to spawn several times.

The Division has been working on the shad restoration project since 2000, when it closed sport and commercial harvests of American shad and hickory shad in order to promote restoration of the species in the Nanticoke system and released its first batch of 91,000 fry as part of a joint effort involving the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

American shad are valued as a food fish which is often consumed smoked. Filets also can be de-boned and are considered a regional delicacy, as are the shad’s roe (egg sacs).