Happy Independence Day Weekend! This weekend is a time to celebrate the birth of America, spend time with friends and family, and enjoy the peak of summer. For many, this means being on the water, so I thought what better way to celebrate than sharing a little about what I consider “America’s Fish” — the American shad.

Although the northwestern counties do not have a native shad population, the species nonetheless plays a vital role in shaping our independence, the future of Pennsylvania, and even fisheries conservation as we know it today.

When early settlers arrived in Pennsylvania, they would have found the rivers teeming with shad. During the spring migration, when shad returned from the Atlantic Ocean, the Delaware & Susquehanna rivers and their many tributaries were described as “turning silver” due to the abundance of fish.

Easy access to large schools of shad led to the species becoming a significant economic resource in Pennsylvania. Not only were fish and their roe caught and sold for local consumption, but they were also salted and sold to ship companies as food stores during long sea voyages.

By the time the Revolutionary War started, shad was a major cash crop and food staple throughout the colonies; George Washington is said to have relied on it to supplement Mount Vernon’s traditional farming efforts. Because shad could be dried and stored for long periods, it was also a perfect food source for troops in the field.

But the American shad’s connection to our nation’s future is more than just a food source for field troops. Multiple accounts indicate that the annual shad migration may have saved Washington’s troops at Valley Forge.

As any student of American History is aware, Valley Forge was a critical point in the young Revolution. Washington’s troops had been rousted from Philadelphia and defeated at Brandywine. With winter approaching, 12,000 troops made camp at Valley Forge, approximately 18 miles north of Philadelphia and overlooking the Schuylkill River.

They would experience the worst winter of the campaign and fasted near starvation until the spring shad migration arrived. The camp’s proximity to the river means it is very likely soldiers would have been sent on fishing expeditions. However, more significant are several surviving correspondence between Washington & Congress requesting funds to purchase shad and describing efforts by the British to erect nets near Philadelphia to stop the fish from reaching Valley Forge.

Following the War for Independence, shad continued to be a valuable commodity, supporting many communities along Pennsylvania’s eastern rivers. Records describe fishermen stretching massive nets across the Delaware, Susquehanna and Schuylkill Rivers. Photographs depict barges piled as high as a single-story cabin with the day’s catch-all headed to nearby markets.

By the 1860s, the nation was embroiled in another conflict. The Civil War had divided the nation and threatened the young country’s future. But Pennsylvania commercial anglers were facing another crisis — a decline in the shad population. Fishermen were complaining about falling harvest rates, and it became an important political issue, so much so that the commonwealth took action by creating the office of Commissioner of Fisheries.

Colonel James Worrall was appointed the first commissioner and tasked with protecting the remaining shad fishery and, hopefully, returning it to its former glory. Unfortunately, the fishery was on the decline because it was not possible for natural populations to sustain the level of harvest it had experienced. However, Worrall spent his time in office educating citizens about the importance of conservation, working to protect the waterways, and convincing politicians and citizens alike of the importance of protecting the commonwealth’s aquatic resources.

Since March 30, 1966, the responsibility for protecting those natural resources has grown from a single commissioner to today’s Fish & Boat Commission with a staff of over 400 dedicated professionals. Biologists, educators, a waterways conservation officer, hatchery staff and all those in supporting roles carry on the mission with the same dedication Worrall showed in those early years.

The growth of Pennsylvania as a colony and later a commonwealth, saving Washington’s troops at Valley Forge, and the birth of modern fisheries conservation all shared one common theme — the American shad.