My grandfather and father told tales of how the shad would run in the Schuylkill River "when the forsythia blooms". Those days, they said, were long gone because the river could no longer support the needs of the fish as they swam upstream to spawn.
The lore of this fish in the Schuylkill enchanted me as a child, and I can remember a feeling a bit sad that the "first fish of America" was driven from it's natural migratory habitat due to the building of dams, over fishing, and pollution.
Shad is a classic anadromous fish, one which is born in freshwater, goes to sea to grow to maturity, and returns to spawn. What a sight those runs must have been!
A good representation of the shad can be seen here:
http://fish.dnr.cornell.edu/nyfish/Clupeidae/hickory_shad.jpg
PECO has undertaken a multimillion dollar task to construct a fish ladder at Black Rock Dam in order to help shad and other migratory fish return to our area.
At the website of the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center a live underwater fish cam can be viewed from the Fish Ladder at Fairmount Dam. The website also has interesting information regarding the fish ladder, species of fish in the Schuylkill, and more.
http://www.fairmountwaterworks.org/fishcam.php
A glimpse of the construction on the Phoenixville fish ladder can be seen at the dam from Route 113 on the north side, and it is scheduled to be completed by next spring.
It may be years if not decades before we can call the Schuylkill River a spawning home for this fish, and I do want to be here to see shad run once again.
I know exactly when to look, and thanks to Dad and Grandpop, when they'll be gone.
"The shad will run until the lilacs bloom."
See you at the river!
****
Watery stairways to the past
Along the Schuylkill, fish ladders at several dams will allow shad to swim upstream once again.
By Bonnie L. Cook
Inquirer Staff Writer
There's a blurry picture of the first fish pinned to the wall of Chuck Campbell's trailer, near the banks of the Schuylkill in Bridgeport.
By first fish, he means the first to clear the new fish ladder downstream of the Norristown Dam, west of the DeKalb Street Bridge.
Soon after Campbell filled the stepped passage with river water in January, the pale pioneer swam through. If all goes as planned, others, such as shad, will follow.
"As soon as we opened up the passageway, we saw this white sucker," Campbell said, identifying the native river dweller by its name. "It's a good sign that the fish ladder will work for migratory fish, too."
Campbell, an engineer hired by Exelon Generation, is seeing to it that one fish ladder is built by spring on the Schuylkill at Norristown Dam, and another by next spring at Black Rock Dam in Phoenixville.
The ladders are aimed at wooing back the American shad, a fish that hasn't been seen in the river since 1820, when the Fairmount Dam was built. Before then, the shad, which winter in the ocean, swam upstream each spring to spawn.
The state Fish and Boat Commission has a plan to restore the shad to its native habitat along the riverway.
So far, according to a state summary, Fairmount Dam has a ladder, but fish have trouble finding it. An upgrade is planned.
In Gladwyne, construction was completed in 2005 on a fishway at Flat Rock Dam.
Three smaller dams at various points in the river will be breached or removed, the summary said.
To help fish migrate, Exelon must provide them a way around the dams and must make the passages inviting. "It's the whooshing sound that's the attraction," Campbell, 58, said.
At Norristown, the river has been diverted for 25 feet by what looks like a concrete and metal bunker.
Inside, the fish ascend a series of wooden steps over which water flows toward them at the rate of six feet per second. It's fast enough to offer resistance but not overpower them.
There's a platform inside where the finny creatures can rest, Campbell said. As they clear the last rung and head into the river, a digital camera records their passage through a glass window.
When the Norristown project is dedicated sometime in May, the public will be able to see the fish swim by, but only via the Internet. What happens underwater remains hidden to visitors, although biologists likely will use the camera to collate the kinds of fish that pass.
Campbell views the project with scientific detachment, but others are fascinated.
"Cool," Jackie Amarose of King of Prussia said when told of the Norristown project. She and friends, out jogging, stopped to check whether fish were visible.
The Norristown Dam was built in 1828. It was owned by the Philadelphia Electric Co., and upgraded over the years by Exelon, the firm that absorbed Peco.
The fish ladder was designed in 2004. Construction began in February 2007. The dam has been deeded to Montgomery County, which will be responsible for its maintenance. Exelon is footing the $4 million bill per fish ladder, Campbell said.
Exelon has shouldered the cost of the fish ladders at Norristown and Phoenixville for different reasons.
In Norristown, Exelon is making good on a legal agreement that its predecessor, Peco, signed in the 1990s. When Peco donated the Norristown Dam to Montgomery County, it promised to build a fishway there if the state ever required one. When Exelon absorbed Peco, the company inherited that obligation, Campbell said.
In Phoenixville, Exelon, as owner of the Black Rock Dam, was subject to the state requirement that all dam owners on the Schuylkill provide a fish ladder.
The Black Rock Dam was also built in the early 1800s. The site, owned by Chester County, contains the remains of a canal lock, part of an old waterway for barges. The barges carried coal from upstate Pennsylvania to markets in Philadelphia.
Exelon has an easement to work at the site and will maintain it over time.
As work proceeds, a historian will be called in to document any significant findings. "These old stone [canal lock] walls have to be preserved, so that will be a challenge at this site," Campbell said.
The fishway will be shorter than the one in Norristown and jut out into the river slightly. When done, the site will be planted with 100 trees.
"I can't wait," said Paul Martino, project manager for Commerce Construction Corp., of Bridgeport, N.J., which is contracted to build at both sites. "It's not every day you get to build a fish ladder."
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http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/montgomery/nabes/20080316_Watery_stairways_to_the_past_1.html
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query fish ladder. Sort by date Show all posts
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Friday, March 28, 2008
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
PECO's new fish ladder at Black Rock on the Schuylkill
The shad WILL return to the Schuylkill!
Many of you may recall the post below from 2008, which details the now completed and functional PECO fish ladder at Black Rock on the Schuylkill River.
http://karenjohns4phoenixvilleboroughcouncil.blogspot.com/search?q=fish+ladder
Due to scheduling problems my interview with the PECO officials has been delayed, but here is the Pottstown Mercury article updating us on the opening of the facility.
http://www.pottsmerc.com/articles/2010/07/06/news/srv0000008682218.txt
New fish ladder at Black Rock Dam hopes to bring shad back to area
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
By Evan Brandt, ebrandt@pottsmerc.com
PHOENIXVILLE — How do you get a fish to climb a ladder? Why, you build it, of course.
That's what's going on right now at the Black Rock Dam where a new fish passageway, which will allow migratory fish such as American shad to continue farther upstream to spawn, was dedicated earlier this month.
The ladder was actually completed and opened last spring, but the dedication was timed with two others to highlight recreational opportunities and land preservation efforts along the Schuylkill River.
A result of cooperation between Exelon Power and Chester County, the project was celebrated the same day as open space purchases connecting French Creek State Park and the Schuylkill River Trail in Union Township, Berks County, and the beginning of construction of a portion of the Schuylkill River Trail that will stretch from the Phoenixville borough line to Parker Ford in East Coventry. All are associated in one way or another with the ribbon of water with the Dutch name meaning "hidden river."
When Europeans first arrived in North America, the rivers were teeming with fish, including shad, a migratory species that, like salmon, is spawned in fresh water, spends much of its adult life in salt water, but returns to freshwater streams and rivers to reproduce.
It is said that a spring run of shad saved Washington's army at Valley Forge, but that claim has since proved to be undocumented in any original historical sources; although, that has not kept it from being repeated often.
Whether those Valley Forge soldiers gorged on shad or not does not undermine the importance the fish had as a food source for early colonial Pennsylvanians. In fact, so effective were the downstream fishermen in the 1700s that upstream communities began complaining of scarcity and limits were enacted.
Shad fishing was so important in Colonial days that as early as 1683 laws were being passed to prevent the overfishing of the river, as well as to prevent fish dams from making the river unnavigable, according to the Historical Society of Montgomery County.
Once the Schuylkill Navigation Company began building dams and locks in 1818 to make the Schuylkill traversable, the conflict disappeared because the dams blocked the spring run of shad. The importance of navigation had trumped the importance of the fishery.
With the only craft now plying the Schuylkill's waters being of the pleasure variety, efforts are being made, albeit slowly, to make the river home once again to the shad. Fish passages, ladders and other methods to allow fish to swim upstream past dams have been installed over the years.
Fairmount Dam in Philadelphia has a vertical slot fishway in place and was rebuilt in recent years.
At Flat Rock Dam, near Bala Cynwyd, construction of a fish ladder was completed in 2005.
In 2008, Exelon Power opened a similar fish passageway farther upstream on the Schuylkill at the Norristown Dam.
Construction on the Black Rock fish passageway began in February 2008 and was completed in the spring of 2009 in time for the shad migration.
The design of the passageway incorporates some of the existing historical materials used in construction of the Schuylkill navigation's lock and canal system, using elements from the system that cut the shad off from their spawning grounds to restore that same access.
A camera system was also installed in the passageway for counting the shad and other species that use it.
The installation of this passageway, often called a ladder, combined with the recent breaching and removal of the Vincent Dam will now allow shad and other migratory fish to swim as far upstream as Pottstown and Birdsboro, as well as the creeks and streams that feed the Schuylkill.
Because the Delaware River has never had a major dam built upon it, it still supports a population of native shad; although, they must swim farther upstream to find clear water in which to spawn. This presumably means they will also find their way into the Schuylkill and its tributaries.
They are valued as a fighting sport fish. One New Jersey fishing website described them this way: "These strong, salty soldiers offer some of the best battles on the river, especially on light tackle. Even devoted hunters of the celebrated trout have been known to yield to the hearty pursuit of shad during the first months of spring!"
"Migratory fish, such as the American shad, are a vital part of Pennsylvania's natural, cultural and economic heritage," Doyle Beneby, president of Exelon Power, said in a prepared statement. "We're pleased to join the effort to help preserve and restore that heritage."
The dam and passageway are adjacent to the 119-acre Black Rock Sanctuary, a wildlife sanctuary and preserve created in 2003 and 2004 at a cost of $1.09 million which transformed the former "silt basins" created when coal silt was removed from the Schuylkill in the 1930s, into 24 new wetland areas favored by waterfowl.
The fish passageway "is a great example of the many ways that our parks and recreation staff focus on the habitats of all our park locations," Chester County Commissioner Kathi Cozzone said during the dedication earlier this month.
"Chester County Parks encompass more than 4,500 acres and, in addition to providing wonderful recreational opportunities, they are also maintained and developed to preserve the natural and cultural history of Chester County, said county commissioners' Chairwoman Carol Aichele.
For more on local fishing, visit our TownSquare blog Troutrageous.
Many of you may recall the post below from 2008, which details the now completed and functional PECO fish ladder at Black Rock on the Schuylkill River.
http://karenjohns4phoenixvilleboroughcouncil.blogspot.com/search?q=fish+ladder
Due to scheduling problems my interview with the PECO officials has been delayed, but here is the Pottstown Mercury article updating us on the opening of the facility.
http://www.pottsmerc.com/articles/2010/07/06/news/srv0000008682218.txt
New fish ladder at Black Rock Dam hopes to bring shad back to area
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
By Evan Brandt, ebrandt@pottsmerc.com
PHOENIXVILLE — How do you get a fish to climb a ladder? Why, you build it, of course.
That's what's going on right now at the Black Rock Dam where a new fish passageway, which will allow migratory fish such as American shad to continue farther upstream to spawn, was dedicated earlier this month.
The ladder was actually completed and opened last spring, but the dedication was timed with two others to highlight recreational opportunities and land preservation efforts along the Schuylkill River.
A result of cooperation between Exelon Power and Chester County, the project was celebrated the same day as open space purchases connecting French Creek State Park and the Schuylkill River Trail in Union Township, Berks County, and the beginning of construction of a portion of the Schuylkill River Trail that will stretch from the Phoenixville borough line to Parker Ford in East Coventry. All are associated in one way or another with the ribbon of water with the Dutch name meaning "hidden river."
When Europeans first arrived in North America, the rivers were teeming with fish, including shad, a migratory species that, like salmon, is spawned in fresh water, spends much of its adult life in salt water, but returns to freshwater streams and rivers to reproduce.
It is said that a spring run of shad saved Washington's army at Valley Forge, but that claim has since proved to be undocumented in any original historical sources; although, that has not kept it from being repeated often.
Whether those Valley Forge soldiers gorged on shad or not does not undermine the importance the fish had as a food source for early colonial Pennsylvanians. In fact, so effective were the downstream fishermen in the 1700s that upstream communities began complaining of scarcity and limits were enacted.
Shad fishing was so important in Colonial days that as early as 1683 laws were being passed to prevent the overfishing of the river, as well as to prevent fish dams from making the river unnavigable, according to the Historical Society of Montgomery County.
Once the Schuylkill Navigation Company began building dams and locks in 1818 to make the Schuylkill traversable, the conflict disappeared because the dams blocked the spring run of shad. The importance of navigation had trumped the importance of the fishery.
With the only craft now plying the Schuylkill's waters being of the pleasure variety, efforts are being made, albeit slowly, to make the river home once again to the shad. Fish passages, ladders and other methods to allow fish to swim upstream past dams have been installed over the years.
Fairmount Dam in Philadelphia has a vertical slot fishway in place and was rebuilt in recent years.
At Flat Rock Dam, near Bala Cynwyd, construction of a fish ladder was completed in 2005.
In 2008, Exelon Power opened a similar fish passageway farther upstream on the Schuylkill at the Norristown Dam.
Construction on the Black Rock fish passageway began in February 2008 and was completed in the spring of 2009 in time for the shad migration.
The design of the passageway incorporates some of the existing historical materials used in construction of the Schuylkill navigation's lock and canal system, using elements from the system that cut the shad off from their spawning grounds to restore that same access.
A camera system was also installed in the passageway for counting the shad and other species that use it.
The installation of this passageway, often called a ladder, combined with the recent breaching and removal of the Vincent Dam will now allow shad and other migratory fish to swim as far upstream as Pottstown and Birdsboro, as well as the creeks and streams that feed the Schuylkill.
Because the Delaware River has never had a major dam built upon it, it still supports a population of native shad; although, they must swim farther upstream to find clear water in which to spawn. This presumably means they will also find their way into the Schuylkill and its tributaries.
They are valued as a fighting sport fish. One New Jersey fishing website described them this way: "These strong, salty soldiers offer some of the best battles on the river, especially on light tackle. Even devoted hunters of the celebrated trout have been known to yield to the hearty pursuit of shad during the first months of spring!"
"Migratory fish, such as the American shad, are a vital part of Pennsylvania's natural, cultural and economic heritage," Doyle Beneby, president of Exelon Power, said in a prepared statement. "We're pleased to join the effort to help preserve and restore that heritage."
The dam and passageway are adjacent to the 119-acre Black Rock Sanctuary, a wildlife sanctuary and preserve created in 2003 and 2004 at a cost of $1.09 million which transformed the former "silt basins" created when coal silt was removed from the Schuylkill in the 1930s, into 24 new wetland areas favored by waterfowl.
The fish passageway "is a great example of the many ways that our parks and recreation staff focus on the habitats of all our park locations," Chester County Commissioner Kathi Cozzone said during the dedication earlier this month.
"Chester County Parks encompass more than 4,500 acres and, in addition to providing wonderful recreational opportunities, they are also maintained and developed to preserve the natural and cultural history of Chester County, said county commissioners' Chairwoman Carol Aichele.
For more on local fishing, visit our TownSquare blog Troutrageous.
Phoenixville's First Annual Shad Festival
Now is the perfect time to begin planning an annual Shad Festival for Phoenixville!
With the opening of PECO's new fish ladder, and the unconfirmed report of a shad sighted in the area, Phoenixville has a reason to celebrate the long-awaited return of this fish to the Schuylkill River.
Consider this post an initial invitation to local service groups and commercial establishments who have an interest in making a Shad Festival an annual event in Phoenixville.
Interested parties may contact me at karenj97@comcast.net
With the opening of PECO's new fish ladder, and the unconfirmed report of a shad sighted in the area, Phoenixville has a reason to celebrate the long-awaited return of this fish to the Schuylkill River.
Consider this post an initial invitation to local service groups and commercial establishments who have an interest in making a Shad Festival an annual event in Phoenixville.
Interested parties may contact me at karenj97@comcast.net
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