A source for insights into the Atlantic herring fishery from Herring Alliance members, outside experts and fishermen
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Recently we covered the pending bans on fishing for river herring in most Atlantic state waters. But what protections are afforded to these fish when they travel beyond states’ jurisdiction three miles from shore into federally-controlled waters? Unfortunately, none. As Roger Fleming of Earthjustice pointed out, there is essentially an unregulated fishery for river herring in federal waters with no plan in place to monitor and limit their capture.
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Recently, we’ve posted a few pieces about river herring (a collective term for alewife and blueback herring) and some of the legal efforts to help this important fish upon which so much other wildlife depends as a critical source of food. While there is much to report on these small fish, this post will focus on the changes set to take place in fishing regulations for river herring in 2012.
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Roger Fleming
Earlier this month, I wrote about a petition filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council asking the federal government to list river herring as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. Fishermen and conservationists, similarly frustrated by the failure of state and federal officials to responsibly manage this public resource, have filed three separate federal lawsuits seeking to force more immediate action.
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Roger Fleming
Alewife and blueback herring (known together as river herring) nurture the marine and freshwater ecosystem as food for many mammals, birds and other fish. They are also harvested in certain rivers as food or bait. The precipitous decline of river herring is made clear by fish counts and commercial landings records. From 1950 to 1970, the catch averaged over 50 million pounds per year; while in the last decade an average of just over one million pounds has been caught, a plunge of 98 percent. Meanwhile, in individual rivers where millions once swam, river herring number in the mere thousands, or even hundreds.
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Summer is officially here and although some rivers may still see a few river herring and shad swimming upstream, for the most part their annual migration has come to an end. Anecdotal reports from around New England indicate that some herring runs had higher counts than in the last few years, but others are still struggling and all remain well below historic numbers. Counters, lifters and rescue efforts were featured in various news articles, and we applaud their work!
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