Millstone river:

[AndyS]

The Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, invites you to join us to celebrate the removal of the Weston Mill Dam on August 10 at 10:00 a.m. in Lincoln Avenue Park in Manville, Somerset County, NJ.

Removing the dam will help restore an historic route for migrating American shad and other fish that has been blocked for nearly three centuries, improve water quality, and increase safety for recreational users of the river. The project is being funded by a settlement for natural resource damages.

Officials from federal and state agencies, as well as elected officials and others will speak at the event on the western bank of the Millstone River immediately downstream from the dam, which is located between Manville and Franklin Townships.

The removal of the Weston Mill Dam is part of a larger project undertaken by multiple partners to restore migratory fish populations in the Raritan River Basin.

Appropriate outdoor attire is recommended.

[thmyorke1]

Sounds awesome. Ill grab my pickaxe.

[Hookmanski]

UGH! Wish I could be there but unfortunately I have to work. This is such a great thing for the river and everything living in it! Great news.

[tycomps]

1. take down dam, 2. increase musky and pike allocations to balance the influx of migratory bait fish!

and you all know 3. do something about the restrictive fish ladder passage (any info on the bypass plans they were talking about?).

why did the gizzard shad make it to the head dam at DIP in large numbers this spring with american shad staying at the weir dam? Is there a listing by those who count of how many of what fish has made it thru the ladder?

Letter to NOAA
Re: Raritan River Project
By John Toth, President JCAA

the Island Farms Weir remains as the sole impediment to fish migration in the lower 30 miles of the Raritan River. Yes, there is currently a marginally effective fish ladder that a ton of money was spent on, yes, you could leave it there but please add better access as it desperately needs to be improved so that more fish can make it more efficiently beyond this obstacle. Improving fish passage at the Island Farm Weir on the Raritan River is imperative and it does not need to be an expensive fix. By merely lowering a section in the center of the current weir and replacing it with a "rock ramp" thousands more stripers, shad, riverherring and eels could make it up an over and continue upstream to spawning areas that they prefer. We fully support this proposed effort and hope that you are able to complete all the restoration work/dam removal project/Dam studies as specified.

Thank you for your consideration,

John Toth
President JCAA

we should all be writing letters asking for greater access to migratory species beyond the inadequacies of the existing fish ladder!

google search on 'fish ladder effectiveness'- https://www.google.com/search?q=fish...k1.m6-2TK0TbgU

[Riz]

sorry I cant make it but thanks too all who made this possible

[thmyorke1]

Originally Posted by tycomps

why did the gizzard shad make it to the head dam at DIP in large numbers this spring with american shad staying at the weir dam? Is there a listing by those who count of how many of what fish has made it thru the ladder?

you're mistaken thinking american shad didnt make it to DIP. Surely the ladder can work better from what I hear but from personal experience there's plenty of A. Shad passing through. Hopefully they do improve that ladder's efficiency.

[tycomps]

Originally Posted by thmyorke1

you're mistaken thinking american shad didnt make it to DIP. Surely the ladder can work better from what I hear but from personal experience there's plenty of A. Shad passing through. Hopefully they do improve that ladder's efficiency.

That's why I asked this- "Is there a listing by those who count of how many of what fish has made it thru the ladder?" (specifically a current version of the 2012 info attached)

I can't find any current data from the the PIT tagging program. This post by Mark B is from 2013, any updated info available Mark?

"Rutgers professor, Olaf Jensen, will again be attempting to capture A. shad to tag & monitor their movement through the ladder. Rutgers is also taking over the video recording of the spawning run from the underwater viewing room. It is anticipated that this will be a long term commitment by Rutgers to this project. Olaf said that he plans to teach an undergraduate course on fish ladders, next year."


All I saw (and heard about) in abundance at DIP was gizzards, what was your personal experience with american shad?

[thmyorke1]

Originally Posted by tycomps

That's why I asked this- "Is there a listing by those who count of how many of what fish has made it thru the ladder?" (specifically a current version of the attached)

I can't find any data from the the PIT tagging program. This post by Mark B is from 2013, should be stats by now. Any info Mark?

"Rutgers professor, Olaf Jensen, will again be attempting to capture A. shad to tag & monitor their movement through the ladder. Rutgers is also taking over the video recording of the spawning run from the underwater viewing room. It is anticipated that this will be a long term commitment by Rutgers to this project. Olaf said that he plans to teach an undergraduate course on fish ladders, next year."


All I saw (and heard about) in abundance at DIP was gizzards, what was your personal experience with american shad?

Ive seen plenty swimming around, at once I saw about 8 swim past me by the bank. Ive met someone that caught 7 in one day up there, fishing for trout originally with lil jigs.

[tycomps]

Originally Posted by thmyorke1

Ive seen plenty swimming around, at once I saw about 8 swim past me by the bank. Ive met someone that caught 7 in one day up there, fishing for trout originally with lil jigs.

They need accurate data from the fish ladder monitoring program. Gizzards jump the dam, Americans don't so they have to pass thru the ladder. They should have an idea of how effective it is. The 2012 report shows considerably less Americans thru the ladder in certain years (don't know abundance of gizz vs amer). One of the purposes of the dam removal is the American Shad migration yet it seems the bottleneck is the fish ladder.

I'm all for dam removal but would like to know if, as was stated when Calco, Nevius, and Roberts were removed, American Shad are spawning above the Island Farm Weir-

"Dam removal will open up 10 miles of migratory fish habitat along a stretch of the Raritan that twists through a highly diverse residential, commercial and agricultural portion of Somerset County, which includes Bridgewater, Bound Brook, Somerville and Manville. It will also open up some 17 miles of tributaries to spawning."

From the only dam removal monitoring report I can find (not sure of date)-

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/wms/Stret...Monitoring.pdf

FISH PASSAGE QUESTIONS
Q. Can anadromous fish pass through the fish ladder?
A. Yes, video monitoring by the NJDEP confirms that "some
individuals do pass."
Q. Does the Island Farm Weir (even with the fish ladder)
represent a significant obstacle to anadromous fish
passage?
Q. What can be done to improve fish passage through the
Island Farm Weir?
Q. Is there other evidence for how far upstream the fish
migrate?

why aren't the last three questions answered by now?

Again, dam removal is good but what about the "Substantial staging or passage time through the fish ladder (7 – 10 days between first detection at the downstream antenna and detection at the upstream antenna)"? That sounds like a BOTTLENECK!

Shouldn't we ask the "Officials from federal and state agencies, as well as elected officials and others who will speak at the event on the western bank of the Millstone River immediately downstream from the dam, which is located between Manville and Franklin Townships." on the 10th?