On line petition for the lower Raritan river:

[AndyS]

I am thinking of starting an on line petition to have fish stocked below Rt. 206 in Raritan to the 2nd 287 crossing in Somerset. I am not doing this for personal gains, but in support of the river and the people who fish there.
Those living closest to the river live in Somerset, Raritan, Bound Brook, South Bound Brook, Manville, Piscataway, Middlesex, Somerville and Edison.
The focus of the lower Raritan since restocking shad in the early 1980’s has been to restore a healthy shad population. Data was taken from the fish ladder starting in 1996 to the present day has shown a rise and fall in the amount of shad using the fish ladder. A moratorium on shad fishing was imposed in 2013 due to the low numbers of shad in accordance with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Shad and River Herring Plan. The lower Raritan river seems to be in a catch 22 at the present moment.
Apparently the State seems hesitant to stock fish on top of an ongoing shad restoration project, yet on the other hand fishermen can no longer fish for shad. It seems to me the ladder numbers are almost inconclusive as to weather or not a sustainable shad population can ever be achieved. Meanwhile, the lower Raritan is in a holding pattern, a wait and see so to speak. A final report was drafted in January 2013 in respect to monitoring shad on the Raritan. Since then a 2 year study was granted on further research in regard to shad on the Raritan river.
Shad today can swim up as far as the Nevius dam in Raritan where trout are being stocked, so fish are being stocked on top of an ongoing shad restoration project. If this is the case then why can’t walleye or any other fish be stocked on the lower stretches of the river.

I do have SO many questions with this petition in it’s earliest stages:

1.) How and when will we know if the shad population has been fully restored on the Raritan river.
2.) If fish are already being stocked on top of a shad restoration project then why can’t fish be stocked further down river.
3.) If fish were to be stocked below Rt. 206 in Somerville what would be the best fish to stock?

http://www.raritan.rutgers.edu/resources/Fisheries.pdf