Acoustic-tagged American Shad utilize historic habitat following dam removal in northern Delaware Marine and Coastal Fisheries

The anadromous American Shad Alosa sapidissima, a once commercially important species in the mid-Atlantic region, experienced population declines due to overfishing, poor water quality, and impediments to accessing freshwater spawning habitat. Efforts at the regional and national scale substantially addressed the former two obstacles to facilitate population growth, but dam modifications or removal are still ongoing. In 2019, the state of Delaware removed the first barrier to anadromous fish passage on the Brandywine River (a tributary of the Delaware River), Dam 1.