Chesapeake Bay Health and Restoration Assessment:

1
Shad Stressors

• By the mid-1970s, American shad stocks had been
  greatly diminished by overfishing, water
  pollution and spawning migration obstructions
  (dams).
• In 1980, Maryland implemented an American shad
  fishing moratorium and in 1994 Virginia followed,
  thus effectively banning direct harvest
  throughout the Bay.