{"id":33462,"date":"2021-05-13T14:25:54","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T18:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=33462"},"modified":"2021-05-13T14:54:28","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T18:54:28","slug":"invasive-fish-from-conowingo-dam-donated-to-food-banks-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2021\/05\/13\/invasive-fish-from-conowingo-dam-donated-to-food-banks-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Invasive Fish from Conowingo Dam Donated to Food Banks, Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maryland Public-Private Partnership Puts Invasive Fish to Good Use<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"Photo

Maryland Department of Natural Resources photo<\/p><\/div>\n

The Conowingo Dam employs fish lifts to help migrating fish species navigate the Susquehanna River to their spawning grounds, but the lifts also catch unwelcomed fish – invasive catfish and snakehead. Through a public-private partnership between the Maryland Department of Resources (DNR), dam owner Exelon Corp., the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA), and local seafood wholesaler, JJ McDonnell and Co., the invasive fish pulled from the Conowingo are going to local food banks and scientific research, while reducing the number of destructive species in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis initiative serves multiple goals, including controlling invasive fish species by harvesting them to minimize their impacts on the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem and providing protein-rich meals to those in need,\u201d DNR Secretary Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio said. \u201cWe will also improve our collection of scientific data, which will help us better manage these invasives in the future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The fish lifts were installed on the east and west sides of the Conowingo Dam decades ago to allow critical passage of migratory fish such as American shad and river herring. Exelon works closely with state and federal agencies to help these species access traditional spawning areas above the dam. To help limit the spread of aquatic invasive species, state and federal resource agencies requested that Exelon temporarily halted operation of the east fish lift for the 2021 season. Exelon has been operating a \u201ctrap and transport\u201d program on the west fish lift.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Photo

Maryland Department of Natural Resources photo<\/p><\/div>\n

The west lift consists of a series of gates and channels of water, designed specifically to attract and trap fish in a tank-like ‘hopper’ that is lifted into the air and over a sorting tank. The water and fish are then released into the tank and biologists, contracted by Exelon, manually sort the fish, picking out shad and river herring. Those fish are put in holding tanks, then trucked in portable tanks upstream.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The spring spawning migration coincides with the time snakeheads are known to travel longer distances in the watershed. As workers are sorting fish, they also remove invasive fish species — northern snakeheads, blue catfish, and flathead catfish — and hold them in a refrigerated trailer until they are transported offsite by DNR Fishing and Boating Services staff.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the challenges invasive species have brought, we remain committed to working with DNR on controlling this threat and operating in an environmentally responsible manner, including implementing creative solutions to ensure the safe passage of fish during the spawning season,\u201d Conowingo Dam Plant Manager Dusty McKeown said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Photo

Maryland Department of Natural Resources photo<\/p><\/div>\n

With large numbers of northern snakeheads drawn from the dam\u2019s west fish lift, DNR coordinated with MDA and local seafood wholesaler JJ McDonnell to process the unwelcomed fish.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMDA\u2019s seafood marketing program, Maryland\u2019s Best Seafood, continues to market, advertise, and grow our state\u2019s iconic seafood industry,\u201d MDA Secretary Joe Bartenfelder said. \u201cWe are happy to be a part of this innovative public-private partnership that helps tackle so many issues at once: controlling populations of invasive species in the watershed, protecting our environment, supporting a local seafood company, and, most importantly, feeding hungry Marylanders.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The company is donating a significant portion of the meat to charities, including the Maryland Food Bank and Maryland United Way. <\/span>To date, more than <\/span>1,000 pounds of fish have been processed and given to food banks providing healthy meals to Maryland families.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur company recognizes the importance of the health and longevity of our native species,\u201d JJ McDonnell Marketing Manager Hollie Snyder said, \u201cWe are happy to be a part of this exciting and beneficial project. We are proud to do our part in processing and distributing invasive species from the dam and to provide a healthy protein to those in need in our community at the same time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Some of the northern snakehead and flathead catfish are also being used for several research projects that will provide information to help manage these invasives going forward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maryland Public-Private Partnership Puts Invasive Fish to Good Use The Conowingo Dam employs fish lifts to help migrating fish species navigate the Susquehanna River to their spawning grounds, but the lifts also catch unwelcomed fish – invasive catfish and snakehead. Through a public-private partnership between the Maryland Department of Resources (DNR), dam owner Exelon Corp.,  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,11,33],"tags":[3609,3522,5060,4967,3542,3785],"class_list":["post-33462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-fisheries","category-the-bay","tag-blue-catfish","tag-conowingo-dam","tag-flathead-catfish","tag-invasives","tag-maryland-department-of-agriculture","tag-northern-snakeheads"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33462"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33465,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33462\/revisions\/33465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}