NEWS FROM THE DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
June 11, 2008
Vol. 38, No. 277
For more information, contact Mike Stangl, Fisheries Biologist, 302-739-4782, or Joanna Wilson, Public Affairs, 302-739-9902.
Division of Fish and Wildlife Releases More Than 500,000 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 574,000 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. The Division has been working on the restoration project since 2000, when it 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.
With the cooperation of local landowners providing stream access, beginning April 16 the Division this year collected 95 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.
American shad were considered too boney to eat without special cooking but the filets can be de-boned and are considered a regional delicacy, as are the shad’s roe (egg sacs).
For more information on the shad program, contact Fisheries Program Manager Craig Shirey at 302-739-9914 or Hatchery Manager Mike Stangl at 302-739-4782.
