American Shad Restoration Project

The 2009 American shad stocking season has come to an end and by all accounts it was a “swimming” success!  This year over 4 million juvenile shad (or fry) were released into the Charles River in a continued effort by Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (MA DMF) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to re-establish this historically abundant species.  This is the largest number of shad fry stocked in one season since the conception of the program.  Much of this year’s success can be attributed to successful shad fry rearing at the federal fish hatchery in Nashua, NH, where adult shad spawn in record numbers without the help of added hormones.     

Read a July 2009 Nashua Telegraph article on the shad hatchery and local stocking programs.

In 2006, 2007 and 2008, the first three years of this multi-year project to restore American shad populations, approximately 5 million shad fry were released into the Charles at the Woerd Avenue boat ramp in Waltham, MA.  During the first year of the program CRWA staff monitored water quality conditions throughout the summer and fall in order to assess the quality of the habitat and potential survival hazards for the juvenile shad. Click here for photos of previous shad stocking events!

Please consider supporting our efforts to help restore historically abundant native shad to the Charles by "Adopting a Shad" with a minimum contribution of $25 to CRWA.

Background

One of the largest members of the herring family, American shad can reach up to 30 inches in length and weigh 7-8 pounds.  The shad is one of five species of anadromous fish found in the river – fish that are born in freshwater, spend the majority of their lives in the ocean, and return to their native freshwater to spawn in the late spring.

Shad were plentiful in the Charles until the mid-1800s, and there are historical records identifying shad in the river as early as 1633. After 1850, the population began to decline due to construction of dams and the degradation of water quality.

Currently, only small numbers of adult shad are observed in the river each year, although the Charles should support a large, viable shad population of up to 30,000 adult fish, based on our target fish community work, which takes into consideration historical records of fish in the Basin and the community appropriate for a natural river in southern New England. The collaborative restoration project seeks to increase the number of shad to this target population over the next decade.

The shad restoration project is spearheaded by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, with assistance from CRWA. CRWA's work on the project includes sampling juvenile fish to estimate fish survival and establish recruitment indices, and assessing the river's chemistry to determine the best location and timing for stocking. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been contracted by MA DMF to handle the actual fish spawning, rearing, and release aspects of the program. The project is intended to be a long-term, multi-year program which will involve continued stocking of shad fry as well as monitoring the Charles to track stocked shad returning to the river to spawn.

Project Scope and Objectives

The project's goals include:
1. Restoring a viable population of American shad;
2. Assisting to improve the ecological health of the river by re-introducing and supporting a native species;
3. Creating a local sport fishery for anglers.

To reach these goals, the first step is propagation of juvenile shad, through obtaining a donor population of adult shad from the Merrimack River near the Essex Dam in Lawrence, MA.  The shad fish larvae are then raised at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hatchery in Nashua, New Hampshire. The shad fry are marked, using a special bath,  so they can be identified and tracked when they return to the Charles to spawn.

Next, the juvenile shad fry are released into the Charles River in the Lakes region (the Waltham and Newton area).  Between 2006 and 2009, approximately 9 million shad fry were released into the river.  

Beginning in 2010, the released shad will begin to return to the river to spawn, and they will be identified and tracked by the project coordinators.

For more information

• Read an article in CRWA's Fall 2008 Streamer about shad stocking efforts in the Charles (pg 6)
• Read a Newton Tab article by CRWA staff about the shad restoration
• Learn more about CRWA's work to assess the river's current fish stocks and create target fish communities.
• Visit the MA DMF website on anadromous fish restoration.
• Read a Boston Globe article about American shad from December 2006.
• View photos of the shad stocking events

More fish and fisheries projects

• Learn about our efforts to stock American shad in the Charles
• CRWA's low flow and habitat assessment study
• Fisheries assessment study
• Bleachery Dam fish passage improvement project
• Fish ladder cleanup
• Searchable database of Public Health Fish Consumption Advisories from Massachusetts Health and Human Services

Updated August 2009