A Time for Shad

Different parts of the world mark the changes of season differently. For some people, it is when the swallow returns, or the robin. For others, it is the when the cherry tree blossoms or the cabbage butterfly returns. In Hinkley, Ohio (believe it or not) the arrival of Spring is hearkened by the arrival of vultures.

Even within an area, different people use different seasonal markers. A gardener, for example, will note that this is the time of year when the forsythia blooms (and therefore pre-emergent weedkiller needs to be put down). An orchard man might note that this is the time of year he needs to order more Japanese beetle traps and sharpen his brush hog.

For me, this time of year marks the beginning of a two-or-three week period when great schools of American shad begin running up the Potomic River 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 pre-emergent weed killer (see forsythia, above) running into the side creeks where shad return to spawn.

In the Potomac River, 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 dam is being built at Little Falls, which will help shad ascend the river to an area that has 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 appears 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, 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. It's their turn now.
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