Delaware Center for the Inland Bays

The spring migration of shad, herring and eel was once a harbinger of the season on rivers and creeks throughout the Inland Bays, but spawning runs have drastically declined.  The construction of dams on our waterways to supply power to mills prevented these species from reaching their spawning grounds upstream of the dams.  The mills are long gone, but the dams remain.

At the next meeting of the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays Science and Technical Advisory Committee, Roy Miller, Policy Coordinator at the CIB and former Administrator of Fisheries at the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) will give the results of a CIB study completed this year to evaluate and prioritize opportunities to restore fish passage on tributaries within the Inland Bays waters for native migratory fish and eels.  

The public is invited to attend the meeting on Friday, June 6th from 9 a.m.-12 noon at DNREC’s Lewes Field Facility at 901 Pilottown Road in Lewes by the public boat ramp.

Also on the agenda, Irrigating Agricultural Crops with Treated Municipal Wastewater: Review of a Three Year Study and New Regulations in Delaware.  Legislation enacted in Delaware in 2009 gave farmers the right to receive and recycle municipal wastewater for irrigating agricultural lands.  Dr. James Glancy, Professor of Bioresources Engineering & Mechanical Engineering at the University of Delaware will present the findings of this study.

The third presentation will present the results of a technical analysis that evaluated impacts of sea level rise of groundwater resources in the Delaware Coastal Plain by

Thomas (Tom) E. McKenna of the Delaware Geological Survey and Changming He of the University of Delaware.

The Science and Technical Advisory Committee is a standing committee of the CIB Board of Directors.  The public is welcome to attend these meetings.  Presentations from past STAC meetings can be viewed on the CIB website www.inlandbays.org.

The Delaware Center for the Inland Bays is a non-profit organization established in 1994 to promote the wise use and enhancement of the Inland Bays and its watershed.  With its many partners, the CIB conducts public outreach and education, develops and implements restoration projects, encourages scientific inquiry, and sponsors research.  For more information, or to learn how you can support this important work call visit our website at www.inlandbays.org