A seasonal repost from this blog.
In my mind, the first week in April is always the start of the local shad run in the Potomac River just below my house.
The shad runs of my youth (not that long ago!) are somewhat reduced -- a function of too much commercial fishing and too much pollution.
In the Potomac, where I dip-netted shad two at a time just 30 years ago (and snag hooked them too, if truth be told), a shad fishing moratorium has been in effect since 1982.
The good news is that there are small signs that shad stocks are rebuilding. While there is still too much silt in the river (a function of a thirty-year construction boom in this area), the water itself is not as chemically polluted as it once was, and many of the smaller tributaries are being cleaned up by local conservation and beautification efforts.
Another bit of goods news is that a fish passage has been built at Little Falls, which is allowing shad to ascend the river to an area that had previously been blocked by a dam for more than 50 years. A million shad fry a year are now stocked in the river, and they are being released above the Falls so they will imprint and return to this upriver location as well as below.
As a consequence of just this little bit of action, the number of adult American shad collected during the Spring brood-stock collection period has more than doubled. One-year-old shad are now far more numerous than they once were, and the size of the shad runs in the Potomac River appear to be growing.
All of this if good news, and not a minute too late. Mother Nature is as tough as an old tire, but it requires that we take our boot off her neck and give her half a chance to thrive.
In plain English, that boils down to habitat protection and respect for basic game laws, especially those that deal with endangered species or species that are declining in number. It also requires us to learn a little more about the environmental interconnections, and our part in shaping them.
America's wildlife and wild lands are the greatest legacy we can pass on to our children. I am happy to say that my generation will pass on most of our wildlife and our wild lands in better condition than we inherited them from our parents and grandparents.
Today we have more whitetail deer and bear in American than we did when I was a kid. We also have more beaver, buffalo, bald eagles, osprey, elk, moose, mountain lions, alligators, whales, falcons, wolves and coyotes.
Only in the area of fish (both fresh water and salt water) have we failed to turn things around.
Support protection of watersheds and riparian areas. Stop eating fish that are bottom-trawled (that includes shrimp), and consider eating domestically farm-raised tilapia, trout and salmon instead. If you fish in the East or any other heavily-fished area of the U.S., practice catch-and-release fishing as much as possible. Above all, demand cleaner water, from mountain headwaters to delta outflows.
Let's bring back the great salmon runs, the sharks, the blue fin and the sail fish, the crab and the paddle fish, bull trout, alligator gar and the flathead. And let's bring back the shad. It's their turn now.
.
The shad runs of my youth (not that long ago!) are somewhat reduced -- a function of too much commercial fishing and too much pollution.
In the Potomac, where I dip-netted shad two at a time just 30 years ago (and snag hooked them too, if truth be told), a shad fishing moratorium has been in effect since 1982.
The good news is that there are small signs that shad stocks are rebuilding. While there is still too much silt in the river (a function of a thirty-year construction boom in this area), the water itself is not as chemically polluted as it once was, and many of the smaller tributaries are being cleaned up by local conservation and beautification efforts.Another bit of goods news is that a fish passage has been built at Little Falls, which is allowing shad to ascend the river to an area that had previously been blocked by a dam for more than 50 years. A million shad fry a year are now stocked in the river, and they are being released above the Falls so they will imprint and return to this upriver location as well as below.
As a consequence of just this little bit of action, the number of adult American shad collected during the Spring brood-stock collection period has more than doubled. One-year-old shad are now far more numerous than they once were, and the size of the shad runs in the Potomac River appear to be growing.
All of this if good news, and not a minute too late. Mother Nature is as tough as an old tire, but it requires that we take our boot off her neck and give her half a chance to thrive.
In plain English, that boils down to habitat protection and respect for basic game laws, especially those that deal with endangered species or species that are declining in number. It also requires us to learn a little more about the environmental interconnections, and our part in shaping them.
America's wildlife and wild lands are the greatest legacy we can pass on to our children. I am happy to say that my generation will pass on most of our wildlife and our wild lands in better condition than we inherited them from our parents and grandparents.
Today we have more whitetail deer and bear in American than we did when I was a kid. We also have more beaver, buffalo, bald eagles, osprey, elk, moose, mountain lions, alligators, whales, falcons, wolves and coyotes.
Only in the area of fish (both fresh water and salt water) have we failed to turn things around.
Support protection of watersheds and riparian areas. Stop eating fish that are bottom-trawled (that includes shrimp), and consider eating domestically farm-raised tilapia, trout and salmon instead. If you fish in the East or any other heavily-fished area of the U.S., practice catch-and-release fishing as much as possible. Above all, demand cleaner water, from mountain headwaters to delta outflows.
Let's bring back the great salmon runs, the sharks, the blue fin and the sail fish, the crab and the paddle fish, bull trout, alligator gar and the flathead. And let's bring back the shad. It's their turn now.
.
Bank-netting shad on the James River opposite Richmond, Virginia around the time of the Civil War.
.
4 comments:
This post makes me nostalgic. When I was young, fly fishing for shad in the North river in Mass. was an annual spring ritual. They awere getting better then (70's) and I hope have continued to.
This also makes me nostalgic. One of the great dishes my mother cooked was Shad--long & slow until all the bones melted. Although I grew up next to the Potomac, I had no idea that Shad were there. My loss.
Now I live in Mendocino County where they may be no Salmon season this year. For reasons known and unknown there are just almost no Salmon.
Eliza
Two comments -- one is that I recently learned that the small tree known as "Juneberry" in the midwest is called "shadbush" along the east coast, because it blooms when the shad run. Look for it.
The other is -- "Support protection of watersheds and riparian areas" -- join the Sierra Club. No moaning; it has a huge base so can actually get things done; it is not as hunter unfriendly as it is sometimes presented (except possibly for some individual members)(and would be more hunter friendly if more would join.) In addition, an investigative journalist I know looked at a number of environmental organizations and conservancies and found the Sierra Club the least likely to be corrupted in its dealings with developers and corporations.
Everyone likes to have their own "environmental" group, their own dues and glory and little kingdom. So there are dozens of little groups, local groups, that someone could join. But total lack of a large enough front in opposition to developers and polluters is killing our woods, rivers, lakes and streams; the "conservancies" that are so often just real estate or "wise use" interests, the tiny environmental or hunters groups that are so easily ignored. Only the Sierra Club has the size and clout.
Off the soapbox now.. (you can join the NRA too, but their interests don't run to land preservation.)
Yep. Couldn't agree more. As a general rule I like the Club very much. They are true warriors in the legislative arena, and I would feel safer going into almost ANY environmental battle if they were on my side. A pretty good organization that borders on great, and often achieves tue greatness. And I guess I DO know them pretty well, as I worked pretty closely with them on the roadless forest campaign and others while I was at the National Audubon Society back when the Heritage Forest Campaign was housed there.
The Club would like to woo more hunters, but a lot of rural, older, and more conservative hunters never feel too comfortable around some of the younger, louder, holier-than-thou suburban lefty types that tend to lead Club organizing efforts. That said, when push comes to shove, the Club gets credit for making the effort and they do make an effort. And I DO give them credit (along with the natural fecundity of wildlife and the tenaciousness of Mother Nature. See >> http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2007/09/preaching-to-choir-makes-for-small.html for a pretty harsh review of a popular right-wing hunting book for an example. The hunters want to take credit for a lot of stuff they did not have that much to do with. And I say it.
Patrick
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