May 16, 2013 — There are still a few weeks left to this year’s American shad run on the Delaware River, but already the haul is being called the best in nearly two decades by Steve Meserve of Lewis Fishery, the lone commercial shad operation on the river.
“We are over 960 shad for the year and are very close to breaking 1,000,” said Meserve. “We haven’t seen a year like this since 1995, the last time we caught over 1,000.”
Meserve said a catch like this is raising some eyebrows because the numbers far exceed recent seasons.
“In 2009 on 43 days on the river we caught a total of 112 shad. In 2010 we had 489 total,” he said.
Whether or not this year’s catch means the shad population is on the rise, Meserve can’t say, because there are a lot of factors to consider. Some of which are simple as fishing access. In 2007 for example, the catch was low because he only fished 17 days on the river due to high river water levels.
“We typically fish 40 days a year, but that year high water events impacted the number of days we could get out,” he said.
In the 20th century, pollution on the Delaware River was one of the real detriments to the health of the shad and the river. In the 1940s and 50s there was no dissolved oxygen in the water near Philadelphia and that caused a pollution block.
In 1963, no shad made it up to Lambertville, the spot on the river where Meserve is set up.
“I think the river has continued to heal from pollution and the shad are good barometer of the health of the river. From an ecological standpoint there are other pressures on the fish,” said Meserve.
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