American Shad Indicator Action Team
CompleteThis action team was assembled to determine how to most accurately track the recovery progress of American shad in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
Description
The American Shad Indicator Action Team (ASIAT) was assembled in summer 2012 as a joint effort between the Scientific and Technical Analysis and Reporting (STAR) Team and the Sustainable Fisheries Goal Implementation Team (GIT). The purpose of the ASIAT was to determine how to most accurately track the recovery progress of American shad in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. The ASIAT met seven times from August 2012 through August 2013 to review and update the Chesapeake Bay Program’s American Shad Abundance Indicator. In that time, the team added two new data sets to the indicator and updated the abundance targets for all Virginia tributaries based on historic population data. The team also agreed to a new weighting scheme for individual tributaries to calculate the Bay-wide shad abundance index.