Cape Fear striper spawn and migration

Stripers have become a species of special interest in the Cape Fear River basin. Before the construction of three locks and dams between Wilmington and Fayetteville in the early 1900s, the Cape Fear was considered one of the top five striper rivers in the country. The dams, which were built to accommodate barge traffic to Fayetteville, did not have fish ladders, and with them blocking the river, stripers could no longer reach their natural spawning grounds above Fayetteville and their numbers dwindled.

There is no longer commerce on the river, but the locks are still in operation because several towns draw their drinking water from the Cape Fear, and removing the dams would leave their water intakes high and dry.

One of the methods for providing the stripers a way to their spawning grounds is the rock-arch rapids completed at Lock and Dam No. 1 in December 2012. They combine steps to cross the dam with pools between the steps for fish to rest if needed.

This past spring, biologists placed sensors across the dam and tagged stripers and shad with sonic tags that record when they cross the dam. Expectations were high for these species and some sturgeon to use the rock-arch rapids during the 2013 spawn, but the cool spring slowed and delayed the migration.

Several biologists, including Chip Collier of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries and Dr. Josh Raabe of N.C. State University, have been monitoring the shad and stripers that received sonic tags over the past two winters. During 2012, 20 stripers received sonic tags, and five crossed the dam or passed through the locks.

This year, 40 stripers have sonic tags, and 10 days into the four- to six-week spawning run, eight stripers tagged with sonic tags had crossed at Lock and Dam No. 1, several were recorded at the base of Lock and Dam No. 2, and two had already made it to Lock and Dam No. 3.

Raabe said electroshock capture showed that a lot of stripers moved across Lock and Dam No. 1 on the rock-arch rapids, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agreed to work the locks at the second and third dams to give fish passage through and above them.