Another Milestone Reached in Continuing Effort to Restore Shad to Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay

Representatives from governmental agencies and environmental and sporting groups joined with utility officials on the lower Susquehanna River today to dedicate the newly constructed fish lifts at the Safe Harbor and Holtwood hydroelectric dams in southeastern Pennsylvania. The completion and successful operation of these fish lifts is a major milestone in the multimillion-dollar partnership effort to restore the once abundant American shad to its historic range on the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay.

The lifts work like elevators to allow American shad, river herring and other migratory species of fish to traverse the dams on their annual upriver journey from the Atlantic Ocean via the Chesapeake Bay. The Safe Harbor and Holtwood lifts ultimately will have the capacity to transport more than 2 million American shad to spawning habitat that had been closed off for more than 85 years. These fish- passage facilities are the largest-capacity fish lifts operating in North America.

With the Safe Harbor and Holtwood fish lifts in place, three of the four hydroelectric dams on the Susquehanna now are successfully transporting American shad and other migratory fish upstream to their natural spawning grounds.

The Safe Harbor Water Power Corp., who operates the facility at Safe Harbor, is two-thirds owned by Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. (BGE) and one-third by Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. (PP&L). PP&L is the sole owner of the Holtwood facility. The other partners involved in the Safe Harbor and Holtwood lift projects have been the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission and the Chesapeake Bay Program.

The two dams are located about eight miles apart on the river in Lancaster County in southeast Pennsylvania. South of the Holtwood dam, the 750,000-capacity fish lift at PECO Energy Co.'s Conowingo dam in Maryland was completed in 1991. Above Safe Harbor, GPU-GENCO's York Haven dam, located just below of Harrisburg, is the final hydroelectric dam on the river. Passage over the York Haven dam is expected by the spring of 2000, opening more than 400 miles of the river and major tributaries to migratory fish.

"Over the last 20 years, the utilities have combined to invest more than $50 million in the American shad restoration effort. This program is a shining example of what the public and private sector can do if we work together. I can tell you our combined efforts have paid off. In 1980, it was estimated that more than 5,500 shad were in the upper Chesapeake Bay; by 1995, that number had grown to more than 300,000. We are well on our way to the day when the Susquehanna will be completely open to the American shad," said Marshall Kaiser, president and chief executive officer of the Safe Harbor Water Power Corp.

The annual shad migration began in April and will end in June. Already the numbers of shad passing over the Conowingo facility downstream have exceeded all previous peaks. In fact, in the first four weeks of their run, more than 90,000 shad and 240,000 river herring have been lifted past Conowingo, surpassing the all-time record 62,000 shad set in 1995.

"Bringing the shad and herring back to the Susquehanna River is one small way to pay back the citizens of Pennsylvania for all they've done to clean up their rivers so that the bay can be a healthy place again for all of the fish and shellfish," said Bill Matuszeski, director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay Program.

Since the 1970s, a partnership of electric utilities, governmental agencies, and environmental and sporting groups has been working to rebuild the historic run of American shad and other migratory fishes on the river. The largest effort of its kind in the United States, the Susquehanna River Shad Restoration project includes a utility-funded fish-passage construction program at the river's four hydroelectric power plants. Other aspects of the effort have included shad hatcheries; studies on shad abundance, distribution, and movement; and programs to catch and transport shad and herring above the dams.

"The fish lifts are the culmination of decades of work by the utilities and agencies to restore shad to the Susquehanna," said Ronald E. Lambertson, regional director of U.S. Fish & Wildlife. "This program is an excellent example of cooperation and long-term commitment between state and federal agencies and private utility companies who share in a common goal of restoring migratory fish runs to the Susquehanna River."

In addition to its obvious environmental benefits, shad restoration also will help the economy by drawing anglers to Pennsylvania. According to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, one of the long-range goals of the shad restoration effort is to once again provide anglers with shad-fishing opportunities on the Susquehanna River. With the shad's eventual return to the river in numbers that can support fishing pressure, the commission estimates that recreational fishing alone may generate more than $35 million annually. And, as the migratory fish population continues to grow, commercial fisheries in Maryland also may reap substantial benefits, as they once did during the 19th century, the heyday of shad fishing.

"I am proud that the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is numbered among the many partners who share in this milestone. The satisfaction we feel at this good news is matched only by our determination to continue the work. The restoration effort is not complete, and will not be complete until such point where each successful passage is not a celebrated event but a routine occurrence," said Peter A. Colangelo, executive director of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

-- Nancy Caplan, Baltimore Gas and Electric: 410-234-7150 or 7433

-- Don Cunningham, Pennsylvania Power & Light: 610-774-5562

-- Dan Tredinnick, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission: 717-657-4012

-- Susan Obleski, Susquehanna River Basin Commission: 717-238-0422

-- Kate Naughten, EPA Chesapeake Bay Program: 410-267-5758