With 10/13 Hudson River Fish Species In Decline, Shadless Shad Festival Not Surprising - NYT

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The Latin name of the humble shad carries its own entirely merited hyperbole — Alosa sapidissima, which means “herring most delicious.” And if a mere fish can summarize a sizable chunk of New York’s history, surely it’s the shad. It is synonymous with the Hudson River, where the fish swim in from the ocean to spawn every spring. George Washington fed his troops on it. It’s now the last Hudson River fish that can be sold to the public.

During World War II, some 30 million shad headed up the Hudson, and for generations of New Yorkers the run of the shad from early April to late May defined the coming of spring. Smoked, pickled, baked on a hardwood plank over glowing coals, shared at shad bakes and shad festivals, this humble fish symbolized both the seasonal promise of rebirth and the majesty of nature’s bounty. The environmental group Riverkeeper had its 19th annual Shad Festival on Sunday, sort of a green-era version of the gatherings that go back to the native Americans. But this year it was missing one thing — shad.

With populations of the fish dwindling to historically low levels, the decision was made to have the festival without serving any shad for the first time. People can debate the cause and just how dire the situation is. But coming on the heels of a Riverkeeper report showing significant long-term declines for 10 of 13 species of Hudson River fish, the shadless Shad Festival is yet another reminder that, in fact, nature’s promises do not come with a lifetime guarantee.

“The entire report was a surprise,” said Alex Matthiessen, president of Riverkeeper. “We were aware that a few fish, particularly American shad, were suffering declines. But on the whole we always believed that over the last 40 years as we made improvements in water quality and progress in protecting some fish species, that fish populations as a whole would be increasing. To learn that 10 of the 13 populations had long-term declines came as a real shock to us.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/nyregion/22towns.html?ref=nyregion