Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 3, 1994 TAG: 9404030185
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Then came overfishing, dams, pollution and habitat destruction.
The harvest of just one of the migratory species, the American shad, has been less than 500 pounds annually in the 1990s. Compare that with the half-million fish caught at George Washington's Mount Vernon during a single day in April 1777.
In 1987, the Chesapeake Bay Agreement contained a commitment to change the trend: "We agree [to] provide for fish passage and . . . remove stream blockages whenever necessary to restore natural passage for migratory fish."
Work on this major conservation commitment is under way. In 1989 two dams were breached. Another was notched in 1993. Plans call for installing a fishway on another in 1995, which will open 140 miles of the James, all the way to Lynchburg. A hatchery building has been constructed and hatchery-produced shad were re-introduced to the river in 1992. That effort was hampered because native stocks were so low it was tough to get enough fish to provide the eggs and sperm.
Now comes a major snag that is more formidable than the concrete face of a dam or the lack of brood fish. The budget submitted to the 1994 General Assembly by Gov. Wilder contained no funds to continue the program. Budget amendments were approved in the House and Senate, but they didn't gain the approval of the Budget Conference Committee.
"Without continued funding, the anadromous fish restoration program will be discontinued, and our opportunity to restore these ecologically important fish and the associated economic benefits will be lost," said Del. Vic Thomas.
"Additionally, the money that we have already spent will be wasted and our commitment to our partners in the Bay Program will not be fulfilled."
Thomas lives in Roanoke, which happens to be in the Roanoke River drainage, not the James, but as an outdoor sportsman and chairman of the House Conservation and Natural Resources Committee, he has been one of the most diligent supporters of the fish-restoration program.
Thomas has asked Gov. Allen to provide funding in his amendments to the budget bill. Other sportsmen should do the same.
The program's target fish, in addition to the American shad, are the hickory shad, blueblack herring, alewife and striped bass.
The restoration of these species would be of tremendous value to anglers, said David Whitehurst, deputy director of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
"The American shad produces a very excellent fishery in inland areas for as long as two to three months in the spring," he said.
Some of the anadromous species (fish that run from saltwater to freshwater) once journeyed all the way to Alleghany County, Whitehurst said. These fish not only have the potential to provide sport during spring runs, but their offspring could make a valuable contribution to established species such as smallmouth bass, sunfish and muskie by providing a new and abundant source of food.
"It is going to be very intersting to see how the smallmouth and other species respond when they have that very attractive shad forage," he said. "What we have found in literature, these fish have been very positive in the freshwater predator-prey scheme."
by CNB