During a spring trek along Oregon’s lower Rogue River some years ago, I saw a spectacular sight — countless Chinook and coho salmon heading upstream to spawn in freshwater streams after spending several years maturing in the salty ocean.
Georgia, of course, doesn’t have salmon runs. What it does have is shad runs, in which adult shad, weighing 3 to 8 pounds, leave the ocean around January and head up major rivers to spawn in the waters where they were born.
I thought of shad runs last week when the Georgia Department of Natural Resources notified anglers that the 2015 commercial shad season commences on New Year’s Day and runs through March 31. The notice also listed several stringent new regulations intended to prevent overfishing.
Years ago, millions of shad moved far upstream in the Altamaha, Savannah and other Georgia rivers to spawn. By late January, shad fishermen would be lining the river banks in quest of the tasty fish. But, during the past half century, populations of once plentiful shad plummeted due to overfishing, pollution and dams that impede fish movement. Now, shad runs are only a shadow of what they used to be.
Several shad species occur in Georgia, but only two — American shad and hickory shad — are suitable as food. Of the two, American shad, once called the “poor man’s salmon,” is by far the most desirable.
Like salmon, American shad are anadromous fish — they spend most of their lives in salt water but spawn in freshwater. Rising temperatures prompt them to leave the ocean and return to their natal waters, which they probably find through an uncanny sense of smell.
Males arrive first, followed by egg-laden females. A female releases 100,000 to 600,000 eggs into the water to be fertilized by males.
Juvenile shad spend their first summer in freshwater. By autumn, they gather in schools and swim to the ocean, where they will live three to six years until they also return to freshwater to spawn.
In the sky: The moon is first-quarter Saturday, rising around lunchtime and setting around midnight, said David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer. Venus is low in the west just after dark and will appear near the moon Monday evening. Mars is low in the southwest at sunset and sets about an hour later. It will appear near the moon Wednesday. Jupiter rises out of the east a few hours after dark. Saturn is very low in the east just before dawn.
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