Atlantic States Marine

Fisheries Commission

Atlantic Coast Diadromous

Fish Habitat:

A Review of Utilization,

Threats, Recommendations

for Conservation, and

Research Needs

Habitat Management Series #9

January 2009

Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus

Blueback herring

Striped bass

Hickory shad

Atlantic sturgeon

American shad

American eel

Alosa aestivalis

Morone saxatilis

Alosa mediocris

Acipenser oxyrhynchus oxyrinchus

Alosa sapidissima

Anguilla rostrata

Working towards healthy, self-sustaining populations of all

Atlantic coast fish species or successful restoration well in

progress by the year 2015
ASMFC Habitat Management Series #9 

Atlantic Coast Diadromous Fish Habitat: 

A Review of Utilization, Threats, Recommendations for 

Conservation, and Research Needs 

Prepared by: 

Karen E. Greene 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service 

Sustainable Fisheries Division 

Silver Spring, Maryland 

karen.e.greene@noaa.gov 

Jennifer L. Zimmerman 

West Virginia University 

Morgantown, West Virginia 

jenzimm@gmail.com 

R. Wilson Laney 

United States Fish and Wildlife Service 

South Atlantic Fisheries Office 

Raleigh, North Carolina 

wilson_laney@fws.gov 

and 

Jessie C. Thomas-Blate 

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission 

Washington, District of Columbia 

JThomas@asmfc.org 
ii 

Atlantic Coast Diadromous Fish Habitat
iii 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

We thank the many people that provided feedback and information for this 

document. Many ASMFC Habitat Committee members and Habitat 

Coordinators, both past and present, provided valuable input throughout the 

various iterations of this document over the past nine years, and for that we are 

very grateful. Without assistance from state and federal habitat coordinators, and 

academia, much of the information contained in this document would not have 

been published. They generously offered numerous articles and unpublished 

resources in addition to personal insight, which were invaluable contributions to 

this document. We are indebted to their expertise, suggested resources, and 

review of these chapters. 

Karen Greene would like to acknowledge Russ Allen, Philips Brady, 

Michael Brown, Dennis Erkan, Steve Gephard, Don Harrison, Kathryn A. Hattala, 

Mike Hendricks, Richard McBride, Billy McCord, James Mowrer, Bob Sadzinski, 

Jesse Sayles, Craig Shirey, Alan Weaver, and Sara Winslow. She would also like 

to thank Richard St. Pierre and John Olney for taking the time to personally talk 

to her about anadromous fish habitat. Without the help of all of these dedicated 

individuals, this document would not include the extensive information on shad 

and river herring that these people provided. 

Jen Zimmerman would like to thank the following people for their help 

with the Atlantic sturgeon chapter: Prescott Brownell, Mark Collins, Joel 

Fleming, Dewayne Fox, Joe Hightower, Andy Kahnle, James Kirk, Steve Leach, 

Alan Libby, John McCord, Ron Michaels, Jerre Mohler, Greg Murphy, Doug 

Peterson, Fritz Rhode, Dave Secor, and Craig Shirey. For the American eel 

chapter, she would like to extend her gratitude to: Paul Angermeier, Dieter Bush, 

John Casselman, Patrick Geer, James McCleave, Kevin McGrath, and Michael 

Potthoff. Also, thank you to the members of ASMFC Atlantic sturgeon and 

American eel technical committees for all of their assistance. In addition, she 

would like to offer a special thank you to Thomas Bigford, Karen Greene, Wilson 

Laney, and Carrie Selberg for all of their guidance and contributions to the 

American eel and Atlantic sturgeon chapters. Finally, she would like to thank 

Jessie Thomas-Blate for seeing this document to the finish line. 

Wilson Laney would like to thank Ken Able, Prescott Brownell, Jeff 

Buckel, Lew Flagg, Joe Hightower, Fritz Rohde, Roger Rulifson, Mark 

Westendorf, and Sara Winslow for their help with the striped bass chapter. 

For their assistance with providing, reviewing, and/or updating 

information in this document (in some cases multiple times), Jessie Thomas-Blate 

would like to thank Paul Angermeier, Colin Apse, Prescott Brownell, Dieter 

Busch, Mark Collins, Kim Damon-Randall, Pat Geer, Alex Haro, Julie Harris, 

Mike Hendricks, Joe Hightower, Andy Kahnle, James Kirk, Sandra Lary, Steve 

Leach, Alan Libby, James McCleave, Stephen McCormick, Sean McDermott, 

Kevin McGrath, Ron Michaels, Jerre Mohler, Greg Murphy, Julie Nygard, Wes 

Patrick, Doug Peterson, Michael Potthoff, Bob Sadzinski, Dave Secor, Carrie 
iv 

Selberg, Craig Shirey, members of the ASMFC Habitat Committee, and others 

that we might have forgotten to mention. 

Additionally, we would like to extend our gratitude to Alexa McKerrow, 

and her crew at North Carolina State University GAP Analysis Project, for 

compiling the GIS maps for our supplemental DVD. 

Citation: 

Greene, K. E., J. L. Zimmerman, R. W. Laney, and J. C. Thomas-Blate. 2009. 

Atlantic coast diadromous fish habitat: A review of utilization, threats, 

recommendations for conservation, and research needs. Atlantic States 

Marine Fisheries Commission Habitat Management Series No. 9, 

Washington, D.C. 

This report is a publication of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission 

pursuant to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Grant Numbers A-10-C-1 and A-11-C-1. 

 

Atlantic Coast Diadromous Fish Habitat