221 
Abstract— Our study goal was to 
characterize the demographics of 
the population of Hickory Shad 
(Alosa mediocris ) in the Albemarle 
Sound-Roanoke River watershed 
during a period of population in- 
crease and to assess its susceptibil- 
ity to harvest. Adults were collected 
from gillnet surveys and a river rec- 
reational fishery from February to 
May 1996. The male-to-female ratio 
was similar between the Albemarle 
Sound (0.73:1) and the spawning 
grounds in Roanoke River (0.76:1). 
Ages were 2-7 years, but most sam- 
pled fish were age 3 or 4. The von 
Bertalanffy growth equation was L t 
= 460 (1 - e~°- 24u + L63) ), where L t 
was predicted length at time t for 
sexes combined. Total mortality ( Z ) 
was 1.43 for males age 3-5, 1.76 for 
females age 4-6, and 1.40 for sexes 
combined. Sexual maturity in both 
sexes was essentially complete by 
age 4. Repeat spawning was com- 
mon: 46.8% of males were virgin, 
45.5% had spawned once, and 7.7% 
had spawned 2 or 3 times. For fe- 
males, 24.9% were virgin, 45.5% had 
spawned once, and 29.6% showed ev- 
idence of spawning 2, 3, or 4 times. 
Mesentery fat in both sexes de- 
creased from the prespawning aggre- 
gation (staging) area in the sound to 
the river spawning grounds, indicat- 
ing that both sexes feed extensively 
in ocean waters before the inland 
portion of the spawning migration. 
The short lifespan of Hickory Shad, 
combined with an early age to ma- 
turity and an anadromous migration 
pattern, indicates that mature indi- 
viduals are very susceptible to recre- 
ational and commercial harvest and 
are removed by exploitation or natu- 
ral mortality within 1 or 2 seasons. 
Manuscript submitted 31 January 2014. 
Manuscript accepted 27 May 2014. 
Fish. Bull. 112:221-236 (2014). 
doi:10.7755/FB.112.2-3.8 
The views and opinions expressed or 
implied in this article are those of the 
author (or authors) and do not necessarily 
reflect the position of the National 
Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 
Population demographics of Hickory Shad 
(Alosa mediocris ) during a period of 
population growth 
Roger A. Rulifson (contact author) 
Christopher F. Batsavage 
Email address for the contact author: rulifsonr@ecu.edu 
Institute for Coastal Science and Policy, and 
Department of Biology 
East Carolina University 
Greenville, North Carolina 27858 
Hickory Shad ( Alosa mediocris) is 1 
of 4 anadromous Alosa species native 
to the East Coast of North America. 
The other species are American Shad 
(A. sapidissima) and the river her- 
rings Blueback Herring (A. aestiva- 
lis) and Alewife (A. pseudoharengus) . 
Often, Hickory Shad is confused with 
American Shad, and they commonly 
appear together in local fish mar- 
kets. Hickory Shad ranges from Cape 
Cod, Massachusetts, to the St. Johns 
River, Florida (Robins at ah, 1986) 
and there is no evidence of spawning 
populations north of Maryland (Rich- 
kus and DiNardo 1 ). It is assumed that 
this species returns to natal streams 
to spawn as does American Shad 
(Melvin et ah, 1986), but homing has 
not been documented. Hickory Shad 
typically are 30-45 cm in fork length 
(FL) and 0. 5-1.0 kg in weight — size 
ranges that are intermediate between 
the larger American Shad and small- 
er river herrings (Robins et ah, 1986). 
The center of abundance for Hick- 
ory Shad is thought to be in North 
Carolina because historically the 
North Carolina commercial fishery 
landed the greatest number of Hick- 
ory Shad among the fisheries along 
the U.S. eastern seaboard (Atlantic 
States Marine Fisheries Commis- 
1 Richkus, W. A., and G. DiNardo. 1984. 
Current status and biological character- 
istics of the anadromous alosid stocks 
of the eastern United States: American 
shad, hickory shad, alewife, and blue- 
back herring, 248 p. Atlantic States 
Marine Fisheries Commission, Washing- 
ton, D.C. 
sion [ASMFC]-). In 1902, the Hick- 
ory Shad harvest from North Caro- 
lina through Florida was 351,970 kg 
(775,962 lb) and worth $37,709 (ap- 
proximately $900,000 in 2011 dol- 
lars); North Carolina fisheries landed 
88.3% of the total and represented 
90.0% of the dockside value (Alex- 
ander, 1905). By 2001, the species 
was an incidental catch in various 
North Carolina gillnet fisheries in 
Albemarle and Pamlico sounds and 
in the coastal Atlantic Ocean (North 
Carolina Division of Marine Fisher- 
ies [NCDMFp). Hickory Shad also 
were landed from pound nets, haul 
seines, and the nearshore ocean win- 
ter trawl fishery (Street et al. 2 3 4 ). 
2 ASMFC (Atlantic States Marine Fisher- 
ies Commission). 1999. Amendment 
1 to the interstate fishery management 
plan for shad and river herring. Fish- 
ery Management Report No. 35, 76 p. 
ASMFC, Washington, D.C. [Available 
from http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/ 
shadaml.pdf] 
3 NCDMF (North Carolina Division of 
Marine Fisheries). 2001. Assessment 
of North Carolina commercial finfisher- 
ies, 1997-2000. Final performance re- 
port for Award Number NA 76 FI 0286, 
segments 1-3, 365 p. [Available from 
Division of Marine Fisheries, North 
Carolina Department of Environment 
and Natural Resources, 3441 Arendell 
St., Morehead City, NC 28557.] 
4 Street, M. W., R P. Pate, B. F. Holland Jr., 
and A. B. Powell. 1975. Anadromous 
fisheries research program, northern 
coastal region. North Carolina. Final 
report for Project AFCS-8, 210 p. Divi- 
sion of Marine Fisheries, North Carolina 
Department of Natural and Economic 
Resources, Morehead City, NC. 
