Details of a proposed two and one-half year study on restoring shad runs on the Susquehanna River were released today by an administrative committee of the Department of the Interior and the States of Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania. Plans for the suggested study were designed by a special technical committee representing the four entities.
The complete report of the study program will b printed and released soon.
Biological investigations to determine advisability of constructing fishways at dams along the Susquehanna would begin this month and last two and one-half years.
Features of the plan include hatching studies on two million shad eggs in 1963 and 1964. The eggs would be studies in floating hatchling boxes at falls on the North Branch of the Susquehanna River, as Sunbury and Clarks Ferry on the main river, and at Lewistown on the Juniata River, all in Pennsylvania. Research would include bio-assays to determine the effects of environmental factors upon the early stages of shad development. In addition, some 50 million fertilized shad eggs from the Columbia River would be planted in Susquehanna River in July 1963 and 1964 to provide young fish for a study of downstream migrations. Young shad spend their first summer in the rivers and migrate to sea in the fall.
Stations would be set up at York Haven, Safe Harbor, Holtwood and Conowingo dams to capture the young shad and measure their downstream movement.
In another phase of the study, some 2,000 adult shad would be released above Conowingo and York Haven dams. Each year 500 of these adult fish would be marked with tags, including a recently developed sonic tag by which the movement of fish can be traced electronically. Fishermen who catch the adult tagged fish would be asked to report their catch so that the movement of the fish could be recorded.
Biologists from the Federal and State agencies would comprise the study force. Details for financing it have yet to be worked out.
Development of the plan followed a 1962 study by the State of Pennsylvania that indicated it would be possible to design and construct a series of fishery structures at the power dams along the River which could open upstream migration for shad and other migrant fish species.
James T. McBroom, Chairman of the Administrative Committee, said the study plan has been approved by representatives of the State and Federal agencies. Action to develop a means of financing the study will now be undertaken in hopes that arrangements can be made to begin work on the river this month.
The possibility of redeveloping a run of shad on the Susquehanna has sparked considerable interest among many sportsmen and others who recall the successful reestablishment of shad in the Connecticut River above Holyoke, Mass. State and Federal fishery biologists hope such a program could also be successful on the Susquehanna River, but evidence is yet insufficient to justify the substantial investment necessary to construct the fishways.
Although the earlier studies do demonstrate the engineering feasibility of designing structures at the Susquehanna dams, additional data are needed about upstream conditions of the river and whether a new shad fishery would survive and prosper.
Serving on the special technical Federal-State Committee were Robert Bielo, Pennsylvania Fish Commission; Dr. Frank Schwartz, Maryland Board of Natural Resources; Donald Pasko, New York Conservation Department; and Dr. Wendell Johnson and Paul Nichols (Chairman) of the Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service.
On the administrative committee are Albert Day of Pennsylvania, L. Eugene Cronin of Maryland, and Donald Pasko of New York. Department of the Interior representatives are Ralph Silliman and James T. McBroom (Chairman), both of the Fish and Wildlife Service.
