In 2003, Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery (Charles City, Va.) produced and stocked over 2.8 million marked American shad fry into Virginia's rivers for restoration purposes. Approximately 2,224,000 American shad were placed into the James River between Lynchburg and Richmond and 639,000 were stocked into the Rappahannock River upstream of Fredericksburg. All of the released fish carry a permanent tetracycline mark on their ear bones that distinguish them from wild fish, allowing biologists to determine the success of the hatchery program.

These stockings are part of cooperative interagency restoration efforts to restore populations of the commercially and recreationally important American shad.

The migratory American shad, historically the dominant commercial fishery in the Chesapeake Bay and a valuable recreational species, has declined drastically due in part to the loss of hundreds of miles of spawning and nursery habitat to dam construction. In Virginia, the majority of American shad habitat lost through dam construction occurred in the James and the Rappahannock rivers. Providing fish passage at dams and reintroducing young fish to imprint on the historic habitat are key solutions to restoring the species. The imprinted shad return as adults to spawn three to five years after stocking and have the instinct to return to the upper river where they were originally stocked. It is anticipated that approximately 8,500 of the American shad stocked this year by Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery will return as spawning adults in future years (6,600 in the James, and 1,900 in the Rappahannock).

Fish passage has been achieved at five dams on the James River in Richmond, providing American shad access to 180 miles of former spawning and nursery habitat. However, surveys in the early 1990s revealed that the remnant American shad population in the James River was extremely low, and none were imprinted to the river upstream of Richmond. To accelerate the restoration of this important species in the James River, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has worked cooperatively with the commonwealth of Virginia since 1994 to stock marked larval American shad into the river between Lynchburg and Richmond above the five dams. Eggs are taken from adults collected in the Pamunkey River (York River drainage) and transferred to Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery and a state hatchery for rearing. Once hatched, the young fry are bathed in a tetracycline solution, which gives each fish a permanent mark on its ear bones, identifying it as a hatchery-reared fish. Once marked, the fish are stocked into the James River above Richmond as soon as possible. Surveys in recent years show that previous hatchery stockings have successfully increased the population of returning adults. More than 80 percent of the fish captured near Richmond were of hatchery origin.

On the Rappahannock River, Embrey Dam at Fredericksburg excludes American shad from accessing at least 73 miles of former spawning and nursery habitat. The removal of Embrey Dam will begin in 2004, and shad will soon have unrestricted access to their historic habitat. However, the remnant American shad stock in the Fredericksburg area is very low and none of the fish are imprinted to spawn in the habitat above the dam. To accelerate the recolonization of the upper river and stock recovery, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Commonwealth of Virginia agreed to begin stocking marked larval American shad above Embrey Dam in 2003. Eggs were taken from adult shad captured in the Potomac River at Fort Belvoir, and transferred to Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery and a state hatchery for rearing. The hatched fry were marked with tetracycline and stocked into the Rappahannock River at Kellys Ford.

NORTHEAST REGION, U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE -- Conserving the Nature of the Northeast