Mad about shad

There’s a fish for every angler’s taste. For the folks at the Delaware River Shad Fishermen’s Association (DRSFA) you can bet your bottom dollar it’s the American Shad that stirs the piscine pot. According to DRSFA spokesman John Barry of Bethlehem, PA, “the shad is one of the best fighting fish out there and deserves to be protected.” Barry was on hand at the recent annual meeting of the West Chester Fish, Game, and Wildlife Association to outline his organization’s efforts to restore the American Shad to the Delaware River and its tributaries.

The meeting also featured guest speaker Charles Hardy, III, a professor of History at West Chester University. Hardy has written and published extensively on the subject of the environmental history of the Delaware River with a particular focus on the role the shad has played there over the past few centuries. Hardy’s presentation, which preceded Barry’s, provided a comprehensive historical overview of the ups and downs of the American Shad population in the Delaware River watershed from pre-colonial times to the present.

The largest member of the herring family, the American Shad can grow as large as thirteen pounds. The shad, as an anadromous fish like the salmon, migrate from salt water to spawn in fresh water. The upper reaches of the Delaware River and its tributaries represent the shad’s ancestral spawning grounds here in the mid-Atlantic. Hardy pointed out that back in colonial days, the bountiful annual shad run was of critical importance, providing essential sustenance to native Americans and Colonists alike despite the fact that it was a rather boney, oily fish.

Over the years, the shad fishery here underwent a series of booms and busts, a number of them caused by commercial overfishing. A more devastating development was the canal and dam building surge of the 1820s and 1830s, primarily to facilitate the emerging coal industry. Unfortunately, these dams also served to cut off shad from their spawning grounds throughout the Delaware River Basin, especially on the Schuylkill River. The pollution that marked the Industrial Age and burgeoning human population in the Philadelphia area at the turn of the century where untreated wastewater was dumped into the Delaware sounded a death knell for migrating shad. Eventually the shad fishery collapsed without a cyclical recovery. It’s estimated that today’s shad population in the Delaware River and along the entire east coast has declined 98 percent from its historic levels.

Today, now that pollution is relatively under control, dams remain the greatest obstacle to restoring the shad population. To that end, Barry and his Delaware River Shad Fisherman’s Association are working to have dams that impede shad migration removed from the Delaware and its tributaries. Barry lamented that efforts to help migrating shad circumvent dams via fish ladders have essentially been unsuccessful.

“Shad are like white men,” Barry joked. “They can’t jump.” He estimated that only 15 percent of migrating shad managed to navigate the fish ladders. Other strategies designed to help spawning fish span dams, including rock arch and labyrinthine weirs, have not proven particularly effective. “The only approach that ensures 100 percent passage for migrating shad is dam removal,” Barry declared.

Much of the association’s current focus is on removal of the dams at Easton and Glendon, Pennsylvania, on the Lehigh River. Another concern is the inherent risks posed by gas drilling. To that end they oppose any new permits for Marcellus Gas Drilling and also favor extending the moratorium against any existing permits until all safety issues are followed and adequate personnel can be staffed to monitor all operations.

The DRSFA also promotes shad restoration projects and supports initiatives like the shad hatchery in Easton, PA, and the Whitlock Incubator Pilot Program. They’ve enjoyed fair success in restoring the shad population in the Lehigh River thanks to a program that began around 1983.

The annual shad run in the Delaware River begins in early April and runs through the end of June. Barry noted that the BiState Shad Tournament, set to run from April 26 through April 29 this year, is growing in popularity and hosted 693 registrants in 2017. This year’s tourney offers thousands of dollars in cash and prizes including a boat/engine/trailer package.

Ultimately, the object and purpose of the DRSFA is to protect the Delaware River shad, the Delaware River, and its tributaries, and enhance the annual runs of the American Shad and other migratory fish species. The Association will endeavor to keep the River flowing free of obstructions and any other detriment. “With help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, we also hope to promote steelhead and salmon runs in the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers,” Barry added.

For more information on the Bi-State Shad Tournament, visit their website at https://shadfishingcontest. com/.

For more information about the Delaware River Shad Fishermen’s Association go to http://drsfa.org/.

The nine-day Great American Outdoor Show returns to the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg Feb. 3-11. The Great American Outdoor Show celebrates the outdoor traditions treasured by millions of Americans and their families in a 650,000-square-foot exhibit space that will feature nearly 1,100 exhibitors in nine halls, including shooting sports manufacturers, boat and RV dealers, hunting and fishing retailers, more than 400 outfitters and boat captains from across the globe and much more, all part of the world’s biggest consumer outdoor show.

Visitors can enjoy the nation’s widest variety of outdoor gear and family activities, including testing their archery skills for prizes in the 3D Bowhunter Challenge, experiencing worldclass fishing lessons from pro anglers at the 5,000-gallon Hawg Tank, participating in more than 200 hunting and fishing seminars, and meeting their favorite celebrities and outdoor personalities.