Aquarium scientists introduce herring to cleaned-up waterway

By Lawrence R. Hajna, Courier-Post Staff

Marc Kind and Mike Sokol drag a net along the base of Millville's Union Lake Dam as sheets of water cascade from the spillway behind them.

The biologists with the New Jersey State Aquarium wade through waist-deep water as they haul in scores of blueback herring that will help the ecological revival of a Camden County river.

Some of the fish will be placed in the Cooper River, flowing through the heart of Camden and some of South Jersey's most densely populated suburbs.

The stocking of the Cooper is possible because the river is cleaner than it has been in decades. More than 10 years ago, Camden County's regional sewage treatment system replaced aging municipal plants that discharged nearly raw sewage into the Cooper.

Also, a fish ladder installed in the river earlier this year will help herring hurdle Camden's Kaighn Avenue Dam, which has blocked the herring's spring spawning run into the Cooper for six decades.

"Just like salmon, herring are driven to get upstream," says Kind above the roar of water spilling over the Millville dam. "They're trying to get to the place where they hatched."

By Avi Steinhardt, Courier-Post
Into the water: Brad Graves (from left), Marc Kind and Mike Sokol drag a net for blueback herring in front of the spillway at Union Lake Dam in Millville on Wednesday.

The ladder is part of a $107 million effort by Public Service Electric & Gas Co. to improve fish habitats around the Delaware Bay and River. Studies conclude river water intakes used to cool PSE&G's Salem nuclear reactors in Lower Alloways Creek Township suck up fish vital to the estuary's ecosystem.

Although herring are not very popular with commercial fishermen, the fish are key in the food chain of the bay and Atlantic Ocean. Striped bass, bluefish, weakfish and other fish important to recreational and commercial fishermen feed on the slender herring.

Anglers also prize herring as a bait fish, especially for catching striped bass.

"Some people around here pickle 'em and eat 'em, but they're real good for striper bait," says Millville resident Kevin Hogan, who regularly fishes the Maurice River.

Following an urge to mate and spawn in fresh water, the herring swim more than 15 twisting miles from Delaware Bay up the Maurice River to the Union Lake Dam.

On one side of the dam is a series of step-like fish ladders that allow herring to spawn in Union Lake and the river's upper reaches. Aquarium biologists netted some 400 herring during three hauls across the dam's base in a two-hour span.

During the third haul, an osprey dives into the river, snaring a fish in its talons. Kind sees the bird, also known as a fish hawk, as a good omen.

And lucky it is. The hauls are among the best the biologists have seen all spring. The fish that aren't placed in the Cooper will be used to restock the Aquarium's main ocean exhibit.

By Avi Steinhardt, Courier-Post
Going to a new home: Aquarist Brad Graves
dumps blueback herring from Millville into
a tank for a trip to the Cooper River

The fish are placed in a 1,000-gallon fiberglass tank in a special collecting truck for the 40-mile ride to the Cooper.

At a boat ramp at Cooper River Lake Park, aquarist Brad Graves scoops about 50 of the olive-green fish into the river. This brings the total herring stocked in the Cooper so far to about 500, Kind says.

Nearby, Haddon Township resident John Pedicone casts his line from the bank of the river.

"I wouldn't touch this water years ago," says the 30-year-old chef, reeling in a sunfish. "The quality of the water is the best it's been in years."

Pedicone sees the stocking as a definite sign of the river's ecological comeback.

Reprinted with permission from the Courier-Post, May 28, 1998

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