Millstone river:

[thmyorke1]

Originally Posted by tycomps

why did the gizzard shad make it to the head dam at DIP in large numbers this spring with american shad staying at the weir dam? Is there a listing by those who count of how many of what fish has made it thru the ladder?

you're mistaken thinking american shad didnt make it to DIP. Surely the ladder can work better from what I hear but from personal experience there's plenty of A. Shad passing through. Hopefully they do improve that ladder's efficiency.

[tycomps]

Originally Posted by thmyorke1

you're mistaken thinking american shad didnt make it to DIP. Surely the ladder can work better from what I hear but from personal experience there's plenty of A. Shad passing through. Hopefully they do improve that ladder's efficiency.

That's why I asked this- "Is there a listing by those who count of how many of what fish has made it thru the ladder?" (specifically a current version of the 2012 info attached)

I can't find any current data from the the PIT tagging program. This post by Mark B is from 2013, any updated info available Mark?

"Rutgers professor, Olaf Jensen, will again be attempting to capture A. shad to tag & monitor their movement through the ladder. Rutgers is also taking over the video recording of the spawning run from the underwater viewing room. It is anticipated that this will be a long term commitment by Rutgers to this project. Olaf said that he plans to teach an undergraduate course on fish ladders, next year."


All I saw (and heard about) in abundance at DIP was gizzards, what was your personal experience with american shad?

[thmyorke1]

Originally Posted by tycomps

That's why I asked this- "Is there a listing by those who count of how many of what fish has made it thru the ladder?" (specifically a current version of the attached)

I can't find any data from the the PIT tagging program. This post by Mark B is from 2013, should be stats by now. Any info Mark?

"Rutgers professor, Olaf Jensen, will again be attempting to capture A. shad to tag & monitor their movement through the ladder. Rutgers is also taking over the video recording of the spawning run from the underwater viewing room. It is anticipated that this will be a long term commitment by Rutgers to this project. Olaf said that he plans to teach an undergraduate course on fish ladders, next year."


All I saw (and heard about) in abundance at DIP was gizzards, what was your personal experience with american shad?

Ive seen plenty swimming around, at once I saw about 8 swim past me by the bank. Ive met someone that caught 7 in one day up there, fishing for trout originally with lil jigs.

[tycomps]

Originally Posted by thmyorke1

Ive seen plenty swimming around, at once I saw about 8 swim past me by the bank. Ive met someone that caught 7 in one day up there, fishing for trout originally with lil jigs.

They need accurate data from the fish ladder monitoring program. Gizzards jump the dam, Americans don't so they have to pass thru the ladder. They should have an idea of how effective it is. The 2012 report shows considerably less Americans thru the ladder in certain years (don't know abundance of gizz vs amer). One of the purposes of the dam removal is the American Shad migration yet it seems the bottleneck is the fish ladder.

I'm all for dam removal but would like to know if, as was stated when Calco, Nevius, and Roberts were removed, American Shad are spawning above the Island Farm Weir-

"Dam removal will open up 10 miles of migratory fish habitat along a stretch of the Raritan that twists through a highly diverse residential, commercial and agricultural portion of Somerset County, which includes Bridgewater, Bound Brook, Somerville and Manville. It will also open up some 17 miles of tributaries to spawning."

From the only dam removal monitoring report I can find (not sure of date)-

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/wms/Stret...Monitoring.pdf

FISH PASSAGE QUESTIONS
Q. Can anadromous fish pass through the fish ladder?
A. Yes, video monitoring by the NJDEP confirms that "some
individuals do pass."
Q. Does the Island Farm Weir (even with the fish ladder)
represent a significant obstacle to anadromous fish
passage?
Q. What can be done to improve fish passage through the
Island Farm Weir?
Q. Is there other evidence for how far upstream the fish
migrate?

why aren't the last three questions answered by now?

Again, dam removal is good but what about the "Substantial staging or passage time through the fish ladder (7 – 10 days between first detection at the downstream antenna and detection at the upstream antenna)"? That sounds like a BOTTLENECK!

Shouldn't we ask the "Officials from federal and state agencies, as well as elected officials and others who will speak at the event on the western bank of the Millstone River immediately downstream from the dam, which is located between Manville and Franklin Townships." on the 10th?