THE AMERICAN SHAD, LEGENDARY IN A BYGONE ERA, EDGES ITS WAY TOWARD A SLOW BUT STEADY COMEBACK

The American shad, that sturdy and popular game fish that provided easily available food for early North American settlers and supported an industry that once employed nearly 25,000 men, appears headed for a slow but steady comeback in the Potomac River.

"When we started this effort a few years ago," said Albert Spells, the Virginia Fisheries

Coordinator at the Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery in Charles City, Va., "our objective was to restore a self-sustaining shad population above Little Falls Dam. And we