DEC releases recovery plan for Hudson River American Shad Public Comments

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the release of the draft Recovery Plan for Hudson River American shad for public comment.

DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos disclosed this in a statement received by New York Parrot on Wednesday March 2, 2022.

“American Shad is an iconic Hudson River species and I’m proud of DEC’s efforts to restore their population,” DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said.

“Today’s release of DEC’s draft Recovery Plan for Hudson River American Shad highlights actions taken to date and outlines a transparent and science-based roadmap to reopening fisheries as the population recovers,” he added.

Native and colonial Americans fished for shad for sustenance often smoking the flesh and consuming the roe as a delicacy.

American shad continued to be an important recreational and commercial fishery throughout the 20th Century. However, Hudson stock declined, and as a result, all recreational and commercial fisheries for American shad were closed in 2010.

Part of the recovery plan is the annual monitoring that supports an up-to-date understanding of Hudson River American shad stock status.

American Shad is an economically and ecologically important migratory fish species that once supported a robust fishery in the Hudson River.

Decades of intense fishing pressure coupled with years of low reproduction and non-fishing-related mortality events have further impacted the stock’s resilience and exacerbated declines.