The numbers of juvenile American eel using the eel-passage structure at the Daniels Dam on the Patapsco River in Maryland jumped to approximately 36,500 in 2022, up from 36 in 2018, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources documented.
The increase in the American eel — also known as anguilla rostrata or the common or freshwater eel — is being attributed to the removal in 2018 of the Bloede Dam, “the only downstream barrier on the Patapsco River preventing American eel from making their way to Daniels,” a Nov. 10 news release said.
“In addition to reopening important habitat for migratory fish, the removal of Bloede Dam has helped improve the public safety and resilience of the local community,” Mary Andrews, environmental engineer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Office of Habitat Conservation, said in the release. “The project eliminated what had been a serious public safety hazard for decades, reduced the risk of flooding in Patapsco Valley State Park and improved the ability of the ecosystem to withstand storms and severe weather.”
The Bloede Dam’s removal also addressed public safety concerns at Patapsco Valley State Park because the dam was the site of several deaths and injuries, the release said.
The Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 supported the $20 million Bloede Dam removal, the release reported. The Act allocated more than $100 million to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service after Hurricane Sandy landed in 2012.
“The Bloede Dam removal is a perfect example of how the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act funding improved quality of life for fish, wildlife and people by targeting projects that offered both immediate and long-term benefits,” Rick Bennett, who coordinated the Hurricane Sandy resilience effort for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, said in the release. “It really was an investment in the future.”
Bloede Dam was the first downstream barrier on the Patapsco River, and removing it helped the juvenile American eel take advantage of the opened habitat, as evidenced by the increase in numbers, the release reported.
“Eel numbers at the Daniels Dam increased nearly 10-fold each year from 2020 to 2022 (361 in 2020; 3,419 in 2021; and 36,520 in 2022),” the release said.
The American eel is found from “Greenland south along the Atlantic coast of Canada and the USA to Panama, and throughout much of the West Indies south to Trinidad,” the Maryland Department of Natural Resources said on its website. The eel’s size can range from 2 inches to more than 3 feet long, and females outpace the males in size.
