Soon after the first of June, the rainfall over the Susquehanna 

 watershed returned to normal, and the floodgates on both Safe Harbor and 

 Conowingo Dams remained closed^ During July of 1952 we received reports of 

 dead shad above the damSo Jo So Wertz of Washington Boro, Pennsylvania, 

 reported 25 dead shad between Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Safe Harbor Dam, 

 John Ogden, Fish ¥/arden, Pennsylvania Fish Commission, reported 15 dead 

 shad below Holtwood Dam^ These reports lead us to believe that a large 

 number of the planted shad died between Columbia and Conowingo Dams, 



Sampling for Juvenile Shad Produced Above Dams 



We sampled for juvenile shad above the dams in August with a small 

 trawl and a 20-foot seine, but none were taken a In September and October^ 

 attempts were made to intercept downrunning juvenile shad by placing a small 

 net in the tailrace of Conowingo Dam. No juveniles were found at this time 

 either. With the limited spawning population available above the dams, the 

 probability of finding even one juvynile shad was extremely low with the 

 sampling devices available. During the 1951 Hudson River juvenile -sampling 

 program, when the spawning population consisted of approximately 156,000 

 fish i/, W3 were able to obtain only a few hundred young shad. Therefore, 

 the failure to find any young does not necessarily indicate a failure of the 

 adult.s to spawn above the dams. 



Comparison of Recoveries of Shad Planted Above 

 Dams with Control Lot 



Of the 500 fish tagged at the head of the bay during the 1952 

 shad-fishing season, 258 were recaptured by the commercial fishermen in the 

 area. This represents an estiirated fishing rate of '51.6 percent. The 

 number of tagged fish that escaped the fishery was 2U2, These fish were 

 available to the fishery in 1953 provided they underwent no mortality and 

 no tag loss occurred. 



Of the fish planted at Peach Bottom, UO were recovered in the com- 

 mercial fishery below Conowingo Dam, These recaptures were made over the 

 same general period of time as were the recaptures from those tagged at the 

 head of the bay. Therefore, both groups were subjected to the same fishing 

 rate. 



The estimated number of shad released above Conowingo that descended 

 to the head of the bay is UO f 0,516, or 77 fish. Since UO of the 77 fish 

 were recaptured by the fishery, 37 were free to leave the area and return in 

 1953 u provided they underwent no further mortality and no tags were lost, 



1/ Progress Report, 1951 Shad Investigation Program, U, S, Fish and Wild- 

 life Service, Beaufort, N, C. 5 pp, (Duplicated) 



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