A Review and Updated Assessment of Florida's Anadromous Shads: American Shad and Hickory Shad

Abstract

This paper reviews the history of fishing, regulations, and stock assessments for Florida's anadromous shad species—American shad Alosa sapidissima and hickory shad A. mediocris—and assesses their status in Florida's St. Johns River based on a creel survey and an electrofishing survey. Historically, these anadromous shads constituted an important fishery in Florida. Landings were first reported in the 1860s, and scientific assessments occurred in the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s. Netting restrictions effectively ended the commercial fishery in the 1990s. We used recreational catch rates as a proxy for stock size and found it to be low but stable during 1993–2005. The mean length of American shad was significantly less during 2002–2005 than it was historically (1958), and the recent proportions of female American and hickory shad were significantly lower than the historical proportions. These data were interpreted as demonstrating a negative, but perhaps only an historical, effect of fishing. The rebuilding of Florida's anadromous shad stocks via fishing regulations was not evident; this may require more time, or perhaps factors other than fishing are interfering with the rebuilding process.