Herring Alliance News

Animation: Methods to Consider Predators in Fishery Management

Greg Wells — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:50:05 +0000

Predators are an important factor that is often overlooked in fisheries management. Several methods are available today to incorporate predators into management models, a practical step toward ecosystem-based managment.

Watch this new animation from The Pew Charitable Trusts to learn more!

Mass river herring rules allow landing bycatch

Katharine Deuel — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:09:57 +0000

As river herring make their way up our coastal rivers to spawn, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) is revising rules that apply to river herring catch. The state is taking public comment through this coming Friday, April 26. In state waters, no one has been allowed to catch or possess river herring for eight years. However, river herring are caught as bycatch in federal waters, by industrial vessels targeting Atlantic herring.

This river herring bycatch can be landed in Massachusetts as long as river herring makes up only 5% or less of the total catch. DMF has clarified that this exception “applies only to bait fisheries occurring in federal waters” in their proposed regulations. While 5% may not seem like a lot, industrial trawlers have been reported to catch hundreds of thousands of river herring in a single net tow of, and these fish are severely depleted.

While we appreciate that DMF is taking time to clarify this rule, we believe river herring need stronger protection in federal waters. A coastwide river herring catch cap would provide a strong incentive for trawlers to avoid and minimize catching these depleted species. The New England Fishery Management Council will be developing this cap soon, and Massachusetts representatives on the Council should support this effort.

There are strict rules on the books against catching river herring in the Commonwealth’s rivers and coastal waters. Federal waters should be no different if we want these important little fish to return to our ecosystems.

If you would like to comment on these regulations, send an email to DMF by Friday at 5pm, or attend the public hearing in Gloucester. And get in touch with us if you’d like more information.

Thursday, April 25
From 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM.
Annisquam River Station
30 Emerson Avenue, Gloucester, MA 01930.

Q: What's for dinner? A: Forage fish!

Katharine Deuel — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 23:59:29 +0000

From whales to striped bass, important marine animals eat smaller fish and organisms to survive. These prey, or “forage fish,” in the food web are critical to a healthy ocean ecosystem. But people are not doing enough to ensure the abundance of prey species to feed valuable fish populations and marine life.

The need to protect this basic prey, which ranges from mackerel and menhaden to herring and anchovies, is growing more urgent. Populations of some of these small fish have plummeted. Millions are scooped up by industrial fishing gear and ground into fertilizer and pet food. Millions more are caught by accident in trawler nets.

Check out this new fact sheet from The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Help Count River Herring (because they count, too)

Katharine Deuel — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 02:57:54 +0000

Somewhere out there on our coast, just beyond where rivers hit salt water, thousands of small fish are gathering and making ready for an epic voyage inland. The annual run of river herring is about to start.

Hundreds of people are getting ready, too. They’re the volunteers who will gather at bridges, fish ladders, dams and riverbanks to count the passing herring—an important exercise in citizen science that builds the database needed to help conserve these imperiled fish.

Blueback herring and their cousins, the alewife, are in serious decline. Federal officials are expected to rule soon on a petition to list these fish as “threatened,” which would offer some protection under the Endangered Species Act. Whatever the decision, wildlife managers will need better information about the status of herring runs, and that’s where you can help.

The groups listed below and on the accompanying map are looking for volunteers to count fish, help monitor water quality, and pitch in to clean up rivers. It’s a great way to get involved and do your part to help bring river herring back.

Check out this Google Map of river herring volunteer opportunities.

CONNECTICUT

Rivers Alliance of Connecticut – Litchfield, Conn.
Event listings for multiple organizations.

Farmington River Watershed Association – Simsbury, Conn.
River and Water Quality Monitoring
Check for volunteer opportunities

MAINE

Lloyd Davis Anadromous Fish Trust – Waldoboro, ME
Alewife Count
Contact Jackie Stratton at volmvlt@midcoast.com or (207) 832-5570

Kennebec Estuary Land Trust – Woolwich, ME
Alewife Count on the Nequasset Brook
Contact Alicia Heyburn at aheyburn@kennebecestuary.org

MASSACHUSETTS

Mystic River Watershed Association – Arlington, Mass.
Herring Count and Water Quality Monitoring
Contact Beth MacBlane at beth@mysticriver.org or 781-316-3438
River cleanups on April 20 and April 27
Check for volunteer opportunities here

Ipswich River Watershed Association – Ipswich, Mass.
Herring Count and Water Quality Monitoring
Contact Ryan O’Donnell at rodonnell@ipswichriver.org or sign up online .

Jones River Watershed Association – Kingston, Mass.
Herring Count April - May (evenings and weekends)
Contact fish@jonesriver.org

North and South Rivers Watershed Association – Norwell, Mass.
River Herring Counting Program – Contact Sara Grady at sara@nsrwa.org or 781-659-8168
Water Quality Monitoring: Training session on June 17 at 9:30 am. Email Paula, paula@nsrwa.org.
River Cleanup Day: April 27th, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Email Paula paula@nsrwa.org .

Parker River Clean Water Association – Byfield, Mass.
Water Quality Monitoring and Fish Count
Contact parker.river@verizon.net or 978-462-2551.
Check for volunteer opportunities.

Association to Preserve Cape Cod – Barnstable, Mass.
Herring monitoring opportunities throughout Cape Cod
Contact Dr. Jo Ann Muramoto at jmuramoto@apcc.org or (508) 362-4226 ext. 16.

Harwich Conservation Trust – Harwich, Mass.
Herring Count
Contact Ryan Mann at hctryan@cape.com

Weymouth Herring Run Committee – Weymouth, Mass.
Weymouth Herring Run Clean Up Day on Saturday April 6, 2013
Call 781-749-0189 for more information.

RHODE ISLAND

Ten Mile River Watershed Council – Providence, RI
Herring count on the Hunts Mill Dam, Training April 13
Email KTGgroup@aol.com for more information.

NEW JERSEY

River Herring Watch – Monmouth, N.J.
Monitor river herring throughout Monmouth County
Email HerringWatch@gmail.com for more information.

NORTH CAROLINA

Neuse Riverkeeper Foundation – New Bern, N.C.
Become a RiverWatch Volunteer.
Annual Neuse River Cleanup: April 6, 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Your group not listed?
Let us know about other volunteer opportunities in the comments!

New study says fish ladders do not effectively allow passage on 3 major rivers

Katharine Deuel — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 22:34:55 +0000

AMHERST, Mass. – Despite modern designs intended to allow migratory fish to pass, hydropower dams on major Northeast U.S. waterways, including the Merrimack and Connecticut rivers, have failed to let economically important species such as salmon, shad and river herring reach their spawning grounds, say a team of economists and fish ecologists including Adrian Jordaan of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

This raises serious questions about the impact of new dams now being planned and constructed on major waterways worldwide, say the researchers in the current issue of Conservation Letters. The international team led by J. Jed Brown of the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, United Arab Emirates, included investigators at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse; Virginia Tech, the University of Arizona, City University of New York and the University of Victoria, British Columbia as well as UMass Amherst.

They found that in spite of state-of-the-art fish passage facilities, actual numbers of fish passing through them over several decades reached only a tiny fraction of targeted goals. “It may be time to admit failure of fish passage and hatchery-based restoration programs and acknowledge that ecologically and economically significant diadromous species restoration is not possible without dam removals,” say Jordaan, Brown and colleagues.

From the UMass Amherst press release.