Embrey Dam was built across the Rappahannock River in 1910 for hydropower, and obstructs migrating American shad, blueback herring, and alewife from 83 miles of documented spawning habitat. With the involvement of Sen. John Warner, a portion of the dam will be removed from the river during the winter of 2004; total removal of the structure is scheduled for 2006. We anticipate that anadromous fish will have access through the breach to spawning areas above Fredericksburg in the spring of 2004.

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, with assistance from the Virginia Fisheries Coordinator and Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery, found that 25 percent of the juveniles captured from the Rappahannock River below Fredericksburg during the summer of 2003 were hatchery released fish. This data indicate that hatchery released fish migrated from upstream to the lower river and contributed substantially to the nursery stock of American shad near Fredericksburg. Fish stocked in 2003 will begin to return to the river to spawn as early as 2006. We estimate that nearly 4,100 adults from 2003 reintroductions will return to spawn, nearly 1,900 of them from Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery stockings.

The objective of the program is to accelerate reestablishing a self-sustaining stock of American shad in the Rappahannock River above Fredericksburg by stocking fry (up to 4 million per year) into the upper river where they will imprint and return to spawn as adults. Nearly 1.4 million marked American shad fry have been stocked (the Service hatchery stocked 638,516, and the partner stocked 739,097 fry).

Juvenile and adult stock assessments will be conducted to determine the effectiveness of the program and to determine when to discontinue the hatchery program. This restoration technique is currently proving effective for American shad restoration in the James River, Virginia; in the Potomac River, Maryland; and in the Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania. Mark validation conducted by Harrison Lake staff indicated that 100 percent of stocked fish carried the lifelong OTC mark.