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The overall grade of the 2025 State of the James has improved to a B with a score of 68% from its failing health decades ago. Although the pace of progress has slowed, a grade-A James River is possible if we keep up our collective efforts and continue to address key issues together. However, the 2023 American shad stock assessment by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science found that populations of American shad in the James are at an all-time low. Given the dire situation, JRA fought for funding to develop an emergency recovery plan that identified immediate actions that could be taken to improve the American shad fishery in the James River. This plan will be delivered to Virginia Legislators in the fall of 2023 with more actions to follow, but it will take a long-term and sustained effort to bring American shad in the James River back from the brink of collapse.
Advocacy News
2019 General Assembly begins today
Today marks the kickoff of the 2019 General Assembly! With only 45 days to finalize the 2020 budget and tackle pressing water quality issues impacting our state, the James River Association will be hard at work as a voice for our river. We’ve outlined our top...
2018’s Record Rainfall and What It Means for the James River
As we kick off 2019 and turn a very soggy page on the past year, it’s worth looking back at one of 2018’s main themes, at least as far as the James River is concerned: the rain. To state the obvious it’s been wet – I mean unrelentingly, record-settingly wet – across...
