Quote:
Originally Posted by Lard Almighty
Mark, I will defer to your professional expertise as a biologist, but it seems to me that the predatory fish of the Raritan have a plethora of prey species to target aside from juvenile American shad. Emerald shiners, gizzard shad, sunfish, creek chubs, sculpin, crayfish, tadpoles, leeches, hellgramites, and frogs are just the ones I can name off the top of my head. Given the healthy forage base, are you of the opinion that the recovery of shad will be significantly set back should more predatory fish be stocked? Alternatively, would the shad benefit from supplemental stockings of prey species, so the predators target those instead of the shad?
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NJDF&W wants to give the Raritan River American shad population the best possible chance of recovering. Therefore, no direct stocking of predators.
The young-of-the-year American shadlings now in the river are, no doubt, the predators preferred forage. They are the most attractive: Like herring & menhaden very oily / high fat content & their sheer numbers.
