Although it’s common knowledge the midcoast Maine landmark known as Moody’s Diner is located on Route 1 in Waldoboro, it’s surprising relatively few people know the town is home to the only American shad hatchery north of Pennsylvania. However, if the Waldoboro Shad Hatchery is blessed with a little fisherman’s luck, the facility one day will be recognized far and wide for its importance in restoring runs of the anadromous fish to Maine’s coastal rivers.

Foremost among the agencies and organizations involved in funding and supporting the hatchery are: Maine Department of Marine Resources, Time and Tide Resource Conservation and Development, Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, Waldoboro’s Lloyd L. Davis Anadromous Fish Trust for the Medomak River, Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center and, most recently, Kennebec Hydro Developers Group.

For the record, however, if not for a Waldoboro fish culturist named Sam Chapman, the hatchery may not have been established. While employed by the University of Maine, Chapman operated the flowing water facility at Darling Marine Center in Walpole. Earlier, he worked at culturing shellfish, smelt, alewife and shad. After his job at the university was discontinued, Chapman presented a proposal for a shad hatchery to DMR. In subsequent discussions with the department, Chapman described shad aquaculture, showed slides of the Van Dyke Shad Hatchery on Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River, and outlined the requirements for constructing and operating a hatchery in Waldoboro. Thus impressed, DMR approved the plan.

Shortly thereafter, the three buildings that would house the Waldoboro Shad Hatchery, located on the Nobleboro Road, were rented. One of the hatchery’s initial two-tank systems was funded by DMR, the other by the Lloyd L. Davis Anadromous Fish Trust for the Medomak River. Eventually, the fish factory was expanded to the present six-tank system that annually produced millions of fry, all of which were stocked in Maine rivers – rivers that once were free-flowing and silvered with migrations of adult shad and other anadromous fish returning to spawn in springtime. How timely and appropriate, considering the river-restoration projects, including dam removals, now in place nationwide.

Because of the hatchery’s expansion and increased physical demands, it is now a family-run operation that includes Chapman, his wife, Carolyn, and their son, Andrew. Of course, the hatchery is shut down in winter, but during my recent guided tour it was obvious that there was more to raising and releasing shad fry than meets the eye. The artificial spawning ground was arrayed with circular fiberglass pools, pumps, filters, oxygen tanks, plastic barrels, buckets, PVC pipe systems, and what appeared to be a mile or so of overhead plastic tubing fitted with enough connections and valves to puzzle a plumber.

“I know it looks complicated,” said Chapman, “but fish culture is like making biscuits, the recipe stays pretty much the same. The primary ingredients being water temperature, flows, and dissolved oxygen content.” Regarding the latter, he explained that because the oxygen content of the well water supplying the hatchery was low, oxygen was added from the aforementioned tanks.

“We get our adult broodstock from the Merrimack River in Massachusetts, the Connecticut River, and some from the Saco River,” Chapman said as we shuffled along a narrow walkway. “The DMR usually delivers the first batch about the last week in May or the first week in June.”

The shad spawn naturally in two 15-foot-diameter, 4-foot-deep tanks, each containing 5,300 gallons of circulated water. Simultaneously, well water heated to 68-70 degrees flows into the tanks at seven gallons per minute. Bio-filters remove ammonia and organic matter produced by the fish.

The freshly spawned shad eggs are transferred to small incubator tanks constructed from empty 5-gallon plastic pails contained in 15-gallon plastic carboys. The centers of the pails’ snap-on lids are removed, leaving the rims intact. The tops of the pails are then covered with pieces of 400-micron mesh that are secured by the refitted rims.

Chapman explained that when the eggs entered the incubator, those that remained on the mesh were viable but those that dropped through it were immature and infertile. Formaldehyde is used to remove fungus from the healthy eggs, which, if not treated, would die. Normally, the eggs hatch in four days. Afterward, the fry swim to the top of the incubators and enter the culture tanks through connecting pipes. Within 36-48 hours, after absorbing their yolk sacs, the fry begin feeding on microscopic brine shrimp that enter the tanks via automatic feeder systems.

Usually, shad fry are held in the culture tanks 5-7 days. The transfer of fry to DMR tank trucks is accomplished by opening the drains of the culture tanks and letting the fry flow through hoses connecting the drains to the trucks’ tanks. Before being released into rivers – currently the Kennebec, Androscoggin, Sebasticook, and Medomak – the fry are treated with oxytetracycline (OTC). The chemical bonds to any calcified structure of the fish, such as otoliths (ear bones), and can be seen when placed under ultraviolet light. Thus, juvenile and adult shad captured by biologists monitoring the fish can be identified as hatchery-produced.

Considering Murphy’s Law alone, it’s obvious fish culture is a fragile business. Accordingly, Sam Chapman allowed, “We had our share of disappointments. In fact, our first attempt was a failure for several reasons, the main one being a truckers’ strike. We were ready to start production, but the equipment didn’t arrive.” Nevertheless, in displaying optimism more typical of anglers, Chapman made another cast and kept on fishing. Using technologies and methodologies adopted from Pennsylvania’s Van Dyke Hatchery, it can be said that he has been practicing catch-and-release ever since.

Since 1993, the Waldoboro Shad Hatchery has produced an estimated 35 million fry. Last year’s production was 9.6 million, portions of which were stocked in the aforementioned rivers. As for survivability, DMR biologists monitoring the growth of juvenile shad in the Kennebec River report that OTC marks are evident in about 25 percent of those examined during the past three years. Suffice it to say, those are encouraging numbers to anglers whose knots and tackle have been tested by adult shad weighing 4-6 pounds.

For the uninitiated, the word “anadromous” defines American shad as ocean-dwelling fish that ascend coastal rivers to spawn in fresh water come springtime. After spawning, the adult shad return to the sea. The young of the year, however, remain in the rivers until fall, when they migrate downstream on their maiden ocean voyages. After living 2-5 years in salt water, the then-mature fish return to fresh water to repeat the cycle.

Although little is documented regarding the American shad’s ocean existence, which ranges from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Florida, it is known that the fish are primarily plankton feeders. Like alewives, shad are members of the herring family. But unlike alewives, which ascend rivers and streams to spawn in associated lakes and ponds, shad typically spawn in rivers. “They like space and flowing water,” said Sam Chapman. “They’re aggressive spawners. Even in the hatchery pools they establish spawning space. They just don’t like being crowded or confined.”

For that reason, monitoring shad returns to rivers is difficult: “They’re reluctant to enter fishways and traps in dams,” Chapman explained. “You have to show them the door and open it for them.”

In accordance with that, Chapman is concerned about the possibility of shad mortality in fish-passage facilities where Atlantic salmon are captured and counted. Removing dams that have long obstructed the arteries of the earth is the simple but expensive solution to that problem. But there is another problem plaguing fisheries restoration, that of protected predators which consume incredible numbers of juvenile fish.

Without disparaging the importance of shad as table fare – the meat of the fish is delicious, the roe is a delicacy – understand that the annual recreational value of shad runs to East Coast rivers is measured in millions of dollars. Simply put, the fresh-run fish are as sporty as they are savory. Therefore, in mid-May, when New England anglers migrate to the Merrimack and Connecticut rivers to fish for shad, they find the waters are as busy as the beer tent at a company picnic.

Closer to home, Cherryfield’s Narraguagus River has a run of shad that provides sport and food for anglers. So it is that the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission’s recently implemented Narraguagus regulation prohibiting all fishing downstream from the ice-control dam in Cherryfield to the railroad bridge provides that shad fishing in that section will be legal from May 1 through June 10. The “Shad Hole” is located a short distance below the dam.

While shad can be caught by trolling or spincasting with small lures fished deep – silver spoons and wobblers are productive – fly fishing, not surprisingly, provides the most sport. But because the strong, scrappy fish tend to hold near bottom, a sinking-tip line is helpful in coaxing one into a give-and-take tug-of-war.

To say that the river restoration projects pervading this country are long overdue would be an understatement. The removal of dams and the rejuvenation of anadromous fisheries will contribute immeasurably to the improvement of marine and freshwater ecologies, the environment, and human health. With that in mind, and with a little fisherman’s luck, the Waldoboro Shad Hatchery will one day be regarded as a landmark for its part in restoring runs of American shad to Maine’s coastal rivers, thereby adding luster to the state’s long-admired sporting traditions.

Tom Hennessey’s columns and artwork can be accessed on the BDN Internet page at www.bangornews.com. Tom’s e-mail address is: thennessey@bangordailynews.net