RALEIGH, N.C. (March 24, 2005) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission are working together to restore depleted populations of American shad along the Atlantic coast. The Service’s Edenton National Fish Hatchery and the Commission’s Watha State Fish Hatchery reared and released two million American shad fry into the Roanoke River in spring of 2004, with plans to continue the stocking effort in 2005.

Recent captures of hatchery-reared, American shad juveniles indicate the species is being restored successfully into the lower reaches of North Carolina’s Roanoke River. A native of the Atlantic coast waters from the St. Lawrence River to the tip of Florida, American shad have been commercially valuable for meat and roe since colonial times.

“American shad are part of our nation’s heritage and are still important commercially and recreationally although its population has been in decline for several decades,” said
Ronnie Smith, fisheries biologist with the Service’s Edenton National Fish Hatchery. “The shad’s restoration will benefit Atlantic coastal communities and the life cycles of other fish species.”

Fisheries biologists realized the shad-restoration effort was producing positive results when Wildlife Commission personnel captured some of the hatchery-produced juvenile shad last fall.

“We used electrofishing gear to sample outward-migrating juvenile shad in the lower Roanoke River last fall and found that 10 of the 228 juvenile shad that we captured had been hatched and raised at a hatchery,” said Jeff Evans, hatchery supervisor at the Wildlife Commission’s Watha Fish Hatchery. “The preliminary success is encouraging. We’re already working to improve on last year’s production and stocking proficiency of American shad fry to ensure the success of this restoration project.”

Prior to releasing the American shad fry, hatchery personnel immersed the young fish in water containing a small amount of oxytetracycline, an antibiotic that leaves a telltale stain on the fish’s ear bone. In 2003, the first year in which American shad were stocked above John H. Kerr Reservoir, outward-migrating juveniles marked with oxytetracycline also were captured.

As biologists at the Watha and Edenton hatcheries become more proficient in tank spawning of American shad, the emerging picture is that fry stocking will continue to increase shad populations in the future.

The History of North Carolina’s American Shad
Species of shad and river herring once supported important commercial and recreational fisheries along the Atlantic coast, which included North Carolina’s Albemarle Sound fishery that in the mid-1840s had 15 large haul seine operations, employing approximately 1,000 workers. The major tributaries to the Albemarle Sound are the Roanoke and Chowan rivers.

The Albemarle Sound fishery’s most valuable product, American shad, was shipped to markets in Baltimore, Maryland, and marketed in Richmond, Petersburg and Norfolk, Virginia. The shad’s oily flesh permitted it to be preserved with salt and thus, shipped without ice or refrigeration. Average landings of American shad and river herring from 1890 to 1970 were almost 11.9 million pounds per year.

During the past 75 years, however, Atlantic coastal American shad populations have declined steadily, and the catch totaled only 700 metric tons in 1992 and 1993. This long decline has been due to over fishing and habitat degradation in spawning areas. Historically, American shad spawned in virtually every accessible river and tributary along the coast, but dams and other impediments together with degradation of water quality have depleted much suitable American shad spawning habitat.

A Fish Conservation Ally and Partner
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations.

The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American Tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the federal assistance program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies, such as the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

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