BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— NOAA Fisheries announced today that the Alabama shad may warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act. Alabama shad have been completely wiped out from 60 of the 75 Southeast and Midwest rivers they once inhabited, and now they’re rarely found across their once vast range from Oklahoma to Florida.

“This is an exciting step toward finally protecting a fish that’s vital to this country,” said Will Harlan, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Alabama shad have been a key part of our most vibrant rivers, from the Mississippi to the Suwannee. Protecting these fish will help restore rivers and communities across the South, and our health depends on theirs.”

Today’s decision is a result of a petition filed by the Center, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, and 12 partner organizations in January 2024. NOAA’s decision kicks off a one-year review of the fish’s status to determine if it qualifies for federal protection.

The Alabama shad is a slender, silvery fish that grows to 1.5 feet in length and weighs up to 3 pounds. Alabama shad migrate from the Gulf of Mexico upriver to spawn each year. They were previously so abundant that they supported commercial fisheries, but many of the rivers where they once migrated and spawned are blocked by dams.

In Alabama biologists have observed 98% population declines in rivers that once teemed with Alabama shad. The Alabama shad’s largest remaining population in Georgia and Florida’s Apalachicola River has crashed from 123,000 to as few as 324 fish.

Oil spills in the Gulf also have likely contributed to Alabama shad declines. Populations plummeted after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2011 and have never recovered. Last November the Main Pass Oil Spill — the Gulf’s second-largest oil spill after Deepwater Horizon — spewed at least 1.1 million gallons of oil into key Alabama shad habitat near the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Dredging, invasive species and climate change also threaten this fish’s survival. Alabama shad have disappeared from 90% of their historic range.

The Center previously petitioned for the shad in 2010, but NOAA denied listing protections in 2017, claiming that conservation locking at dams would reduce harms to Alabama shad. But conservation locking no longer occurs at dams throughout the Alabama shad’s range, and new data has shown that populations have declined even further since 2017.

Joining the Center in the Alabama shad petition are the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, Alabama Rivers Alliance, Healthy Gulf, American Whitewater, Cahaba Riverkeeper, Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Coosa Riverkeeper, Forest Keeper, Healthy Ocean Coalition, Mobile Baykeeper, Pearl Riverkeeper, Black Warrior Riverkeeper and Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper.