NJFishing.com Your Best Online Source for Fishing Information in New Jersey

Rancocas Creek shows some real promise for providing a spawning run of shad large enough for anglers to consistently catch fish. A shad fishery is also developing in the Raritan River thanks to a Division of Fish and Wildlife project in the 1980s that transplanted Delaware River fish there. The Division's efforts also resulted in the removal of migratory impediments such as the breaching of the Fieldsville Dam and the notch placed in Calco Dam. The construction of a fish ladder on the more recently constructed Island Farm Weir has cleared the way for shad up to the Nevius Street Dam in Raritan. The ladder, located at the confluence of the Millstone and the Raritan, is equipped with an underwater viewing room. Fish passage is monitored via a remote camera system that provides the division with information on the number of shad returning to the river. The Raritan striped bass fishery is also making a comeback, and the stretch of river through Bound Brook is a popular spot with anglers.

Carl Alderson and Dave Bean are passionate about American shad. Alderson is a fisheries biologist
with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Bean works for the NJ Department of
Environmental Protection. The two are convinced that shad and their cousins in the herring family can
be restored to the Raritan River Basin, including the Millstone River and its tributaries.
Shad are anadromous, which means that they spend most of their life at sea before migrating up rivers
to spawn. To survive, they need both healthy freshwater and marine habitats and free passage between
the two.
The fish are harmed by ocean pollution, polluted runoff in streams and rivers, and dams. Overfishing
has become a larger and larger problem as ocean trawlers consume more and more fish. With shad
stocks crashing throughout much of their range, fisheries biologists are seeking opportunities to make
more spawning habitat available for the fish. To do so requires breaching dams, constructing “fish
ladders” around dams that cannot be breached, and improving water quality.
Currently, four dams prevent shad and other migratory fish from returning in any significant numbers to
the Millstone River. Two
miles away, the Raritan’s Island Farm Weir blocks most shad that make it that far, although some fish
make it through a fish ladder over the dam. Smaller dams at the Weston Causeway and at Blackwells
Mills block shad that make it past the first two obstacles (although I’ve met people who swear that
they’ve seen shad in the Millstone further upstream).
Alderson and Bean think shad would do fine in the Millstone River, assuming that current impediments to
their migration can be removed and that the water quality in the river does not deteriorate. They’ve
asked the Watershed Association to help investigate the feasibility of restoring shad to the Millstone, and
I have enthusiastically agreed. If approved, the feasibility study will investigate the removal of the Weston
and Blackwell Mills dams to provide passage for shad and other fish, taking into consideration sediment
contamination upstream of the dams and potential affects on wildlife, water quality, water quantity, flow,
and adjacent wetlands.

March 2005 C.= Confirmed R.= Reported
Raritan River Drainage
Shad River herring
Raritan River – Calco Dam (notched+) (Bridgewater) (c) (c)
Raritan River – Island Farm Weir (fish ladder+) (c) (c)
(Bridgewater)
Raritan River – Manville Dam (Manville) (c)
Raritan River – Nevius Street (Raritan) (r) (r)
Raritan River – Roberts Street Dam (Bridgewater) (r)

following have fish ladders with confirmed movement in areas with confirmed
river herring spawning runs: (NJDEP 2000)

Raritan River: Island Farm Weir in Bridgewater

Fish passage through the Island Farm Weir Fish Ladder, located at the confluence of the Raritan and Millstone rivers, continues to be monitored with the use of a remote camera and time lapse VCR. To date, 24 species of fish including American shad, northern pike, hybrid striped bass, walleye, brown trout, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass have been documented using this facility
As recently as 2005, research shows that American shad, river herring, American eel, and other migratory species made their way close to, if not into, the Millstone River. American shad are "anadromous," which means that they are born in freshwater, migrate to the oceans to live for a period of time, then migrate back up their natal streams to spawn. Historically there were massive shad migrations up the Delaware River, but these fish also swam up the Raritan River and into the Millstone.

To get there, the fish must first pass through a relatively narrow "notch" in the Calco Dam on the Raritan River at Bound Brook and then must navigate the Island Farm Weir, a dam-like structure located 160 feet downstream from the confluence of the Millstone and Raritan Rivers. The weir is equipped with a "fish ladder" - a structure that facilitates fish passage around the dam.

One and a half miles upstream from the fish ladder however is the Weston Causeway Dam (also known as the Weston Mills Dam), the first complete barrier to fish attempting to migrate up the Millstone. The dam is thought to have been built around 1700 and is what is known as a run-of-the-river dam - meaning that water constantly flows over it. It was originally built to service a mill that no longer exists and spans the river between Franklin Township and Manville Borough.

The Blackwells Mills Dam, located 4.7 miles upstream from the Weston Causeway Dam is another run-of-the-river dam originally built in the 18th century to service a mill that no longer exists. That dam spans the river between Franklin and Hillsborough Townships.

The Watershed Association's feasibility study will determine the safety of removing or breaching the dams by investigating the sediments upstream of the dams and looking for potential contamination that might need to be addressed. The Watershed Association will also be studying the likely effects of removing the dams on water levels in the river. Future storm water levels will be predicted to determine if flooding would be more or less likely after dam removal. Public meetings will be held to discuss potential scenarios for fish passage at the dams and to listen and respond to local concerns about each scenario.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) runs an American shad restora-tion program on the Raritan River. From 1992 to 1997, adult American shad from the Delaware River basin were transplanted to the Raritan River to reestablish a spawning population. Naturally spawning populations of shad are now returning to the Raritan River, and migrate as far upstream as Raritan, where a dam blocks their passage at Nevius Street, approximately 10 km (6 mi) upstream from the confluence of Green Brook and the Raritan River. Water quality improvements have reestablished populations of alewife and striped bass in the Raritan River as far upstream as the Nevius Street dam.
There are no commercial fisheries in area streams. Striped bass and American shad are fished recreationally in the Raritan River.
Many watersheds throughout the state now have dramatically improved
water quality, and may have the potential to support a spawning population
of American shad. For example, the Raritan River historically supported a
spawning run of American shad, so in the early 1980s adult male and gravid
(egg-bearing) female Delaware River American shad were stocked there in
an attempt to reestablish a spawning run. A dam constructed at the
confluence of the Millstone and Raritan rivers is equipped with a fish ladder
that includes an underwater viewing room. A video camera has revealed
increasing numbers of adult shad during the eight years that the fish ladder
has been in operation. There also have been reported angler catches of
American shad in the Raritan River as well as the Passaic River and
Rancocas Creek. Investigation of these and other waterways will be essential
to the management of this species. If shad are present, then efforts to
restore and to enhance the spawning population should include monitoring
fish passage at impediments, supplemental stocking and habitat protection.

This year no population studies are being carried out although on days when Lewis' nets are heavy with shad, half of them are donated to the N.J. fisheries people who transplant them in the Raritan River, which formerly had good shad runs.
Lower Millstone River Fish Passage Project
Millstone River, a tributary to the Raritan River, NJ (near the townships of Franklin and Hillsborough)
$35,000 to assess the feasibility of removing two dams on the Lower Millstone River

Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association will conduct a study to examine the feasibility of restoring American shad and other fish in the lower Millstone River in central New Jersey. Among other potential restoration strategies, the project will explore the possibility of removing two dams on the lower Millstone River which would open an additional 14.1 miles of the river to fish. The study will assess potential positive and negative effects of dam removal as well as other potential methods for providing fish passage on the river.
The Raritan River is an important source of drinking water for the central portion of New Jersey. Two water purification plants, operated by New Jersey American Water, are located where the Raritan River and its largest tributary (the Millstone River) meet just east of Manville, New Jersey.

The Calco dam has since been removed.