If NOAA Marine Habitat Restoration Specialist Carl Alderson had his way, the story of dam removals on New Jersey’s Raritan River would be an epic film—Shad: The Movie.
Opening shot: Silvery fish throw themselves against a dam, unable to reach the other side. Battered and bloody, they try again, only to be swept downstream.
Voiceover: “In a world of uncertainty, scientists race against time to free the 1,110-square-mile Raritan River watershed from the bondage of obsolete dams to save a species. Will science and restoration be the heroes fish need to reach their ancient spawning grounds?”
Alderson’s film may be just an idea for now, but the story of the restoration of the Raritan River and its native migratory fish species is worth telling. The Raritan River Fish Passage Initiative, the brainchild of Alderson and other NOAA partners, has led to the removal of six dams. There are plans to remove dams or improve fish passage at nine other sites throughout the watershed.
This past fall, NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation awarded the Raritan Headwaters Association $2.3 million through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to remove the Rockafellows Mill Dam on the South Branch of the Raritan. This represents NOAA’s most significant investment in the watershed so far. Matching funds from the Cornell Dubilier Superfund settlement will also support this important project.
The dam removals will help American shad and other migratory fish species including alewife, blueback herring, and American eels reach their spawning grounds. Shad make an estimated 800-mile journey from the Atlantic to the Raritan to spawn.
“When all of the Raritan River Fish Passage Initiative’s objectives are achieved, we will have opened more than 100 miles, enhancing water quality, and benefiting not only fish but freshwater mussels, benthic organisms, birds, insects, and outdoor recreationists," says Alderson. “Each year's passing, we come closer to that dream.”
Major project partners include the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Plot Thickens: Obsolete Dams and Hazardous Waste
Writer John McPhee called shad America’s “Founding Fish” for the once bountiful species’ role in sustaining Indigenous people and early colonists. According to legend, shad fed George Washington’s starving troops at Valley Forge, giving them the strength to remain steadfast in the Revolutionary War.
However, by the late 1700s, the situation had radically changed. German zoologist Johann David Schoepf observed that “numberless schools” of shad swam up the Millstone River, a tributary of the Raritan. But, he observed, “dams of which many have been built in recent years keep back the shad.”
Colonists who depended on the shad harvest bemoaned the appearance of mill dams and even made nightly raids to dismantle one on a Raritan tributary. Ultimately, the property owners kept the right to build dams on their land. Still, the at-sea harvest of Shad remained robust—for a time.
In the 1840s, fishermen across the East Coast caught about 80 million pounds of shad annually. Sixty years later, the catch dropped to 50 million. By 1980, they caught only 3.8 million pounds of shad. Now, a single commercial shad fishery exists in New Jersey on the Delaware River. Directed shad fishing is banned in most other locations.
Continued industrialization dealt another blow to shad and the Raritan River ecosystem. Near the turn of the 20th century, new chemical plants began dumping hazardous waste in the watershed. In the 1920s, officials subsequently banned swimming in the river and warned residents not to eat the fish due to toxic containments.
Following the passage of critical environmental laws in the 1970s and 80s, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began designating hazardous areas as Superfund sites. The Raritan watershed is home to 20 Superfund sites and 1.2 million residents. The companies and other entities responsible for the pollution must clean up the sites or pay the government a settlement to cover the restoration cost.
The Hero’s Journey: The Raritan River Fish Passage Initiative
In 2004, Carl Alderson, who grew up near a New Jersey Superfund site, decided to lead a “learning and discovery” kayak trip down the Raritan with a group of other environmental professionals. He thought the experience might spark some new ideas about how to heal the river. Portaging around multiple dams made bringing down 24 kayakers dangerous and difficult. They noticed plastic trash caught in downed trees and encountered invasive species, floating mats of algae, and non-native fish.
Following the trip, Alderson decided to map the dams with GIS and gather information about them. There were dozens of aging, decrepit dams on the Raritan watershed, and most of them no longer had a purpose. They blocked the passage of migratory fish and diminished water quality by creating impoundment ponds.
In 2008, staff from NOAA, the Department of the Interior, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and other partners met to make a long-term plan to remove former industrial dams on the river. They began calling their effort “The Raritan River Fish Passage Initiative.”
Funding Dam Removals on the Raritan
Federal and state agencies use the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process to evaluate the impacts of hazardous waste sites, determine what restoration is needed, and settle with the responsible parties to fund the restoration. NRDA settlements fund many types of restoration projects.
NOAA, the Department of the Interior, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) are Trustees of multiple Raritan River Superfund settlements. Trustees could use settlement funds to remove old industrial dams that block fish passage as a way to mitigate the ecological damage done by polluters.
The Raritan River Fish Passage Initiative received its first funding from a settlement with the Cornell Dubilier Superfund site, where workers dumped PCBs, metals, and other hazardous substances for 26 years. NOAA then played a key role in helping NJDEP use state NRDA funds from a settlement with El Paso Corporation to remove three dams between 2011 and 2013.
In 2017, funds from the American Cyanamid Superfund site supported the removal of the Weston Mill Dam on the Millstone River, a Raritan tributary. The estimated cost of this project was $1.5 million. When the Weston Mill Dam came down, NJDEP monitoring teams discovered Shad migrating and spawning in the Millstone River for the first time in 173 years. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service oversaw the removal of two additional dams in the watershed using other funding sources.
In the last 16 years, NOAA staff including Carl Alderson, Mary Andrews, and Matt Bernier have provided key leadership and technical assistance in the Raritan dam removal projects. They have also assisted on projects without NOAA funding. However, the work would not have been possible without the support and funds of many other partners.
“Nearly 20 years ago, Dave Bean of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, myself, and Hydrogeologist John Jengo became dedicated servants to the cause of these migratory fish that have sustained humans, large predatory fish, and marine mammals for millennia,” says Alderson. “We didn’t realize at the time that we’d be joined by a small army of dedicated individuals and organizations who share this vision and continue to carry it into the future.”
The Story Continues
Today, more than two dozen dams and other barriers still stand in the mainstem Raritan and its major tributaries. More than $9.6 million provided by NOAA and trustees from Cornell Dubilier and American Cyanamid Superfund settlements are supporting future dam removal projects on the watershed.
NOAA and its Raritan River Fish Passage Initiative partners hope to complete the removal of the Cole’s Mill, Nunn’s Mill, Head Gates, and Rockafellows Mill dams by 2027. They will also replace a failing fish ladder with a nature-like fishway at the Island Farm Weir, the Raritan's first downstream fish passage barrier.
Ultimately, these restoration efforts will help the Raritan River transform into a healthier, functioning urban watershed for shad and other migratory fish, wildlife, and people.
Hopefully, Shad: The Movie will be ready for its premiere by then.
The Raritan River Fish Passage Initiative is a partnership between NOAA and:
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
- The Watershed Institute
- Raritan Headwaters Association
- Raritan Riverkeeper
- NY/NJ Baykeeper
- NY-NJ Harbor Estuary Program
- Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership
- Rutgers University Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences
- Sustainable Raritan River Initiative
- NJ Conservation Foundation
- Numerous other supporting municipalities and individuals
