River Herring in Trouble

Below is a recent press release from the Marine Fish Conservation Network (MFCN) about some positive action taken by Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission earlier this month to protect river herring, an important forage fish that used to be far more common in NJ waters.  According to MFCN:  "since the mid-1980s, the landings in the commercial river herring fishery plummeted by 97 percent."  

A blueback herring, above, which along with the Alewife, are known as river herring. 

(May 7, 2009) ASMFC’s call for Emergency Action from Secretary of Commerce is encouraging; New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils must now support effort to monitor and reduce river herring bycatch.

The Marine Fish Conservation Network today applauds the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) for approving Amendment 2 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Shad and River Herring (River Herring Management). Earlier today, the ASMFC approved the FMP, which will prohibit commercial and recreational fishing in states’ waters beginning January 1, 2012, unless a sustainable management plan is approved by January 1, 2010. Closed fisheries can be re-opened provided a proposal is submitted with the annual state compliance report. All of the measures the ASMFC supported today for state river systems are positive for river herring recovery.

The most noteworthy action to come out of the Amendment is that a formal and official effort is now underway to better monitor and quantify river herring bycatch (the accidental killing and or capturing of non-targeted fish and marine life) at sea. The ASMFC will send a letter to the Secretary of Commerce encouraging more resources to support the cooperative efforts (between ASMFC and the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Councils) to better manage anadromous fisheries, such as shad and river herring, which spawn in river systems, but spend most of their lives at sea.

The ASMFC also called on the Secretary of Commerce to take emergency action and implement bycatch monitoring measures recently under discussion with the New England Council.

Using a baseball analogy, Brooks Mountcastle, Mid-Atlantic Representative for the Network, said “The ASMFC has come through and loaded the bases. Now it is time for the Secretary of Commerce to step up and knock it out of the park, bringing a much needed victory for river herring, fishermen, and the public.”

Despite the positive step today, the Network would have liked to see stronger wording requiring tougher action and cooperation from the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. “The Mid-Atlantic Council has chosen to ignore the growing concern about river herring bycatch in small mesh fisheries. It continues to hide behind lack of scientific data and a stock assessment for not moving forward. The Council could elect to include river herring in an FMP or as ecosystem component species under the revised Magnuson-Stevens Act, but so far it has declined to do so,” continued Mountcastle. The Council has even refused to allow a scientific presentation on river herring bycatch in the mackerel and Atlantic herring fisheries during its recent public meetings.

A preliminary study estimates that in 2007 there were 2 million pounds of river herring bycatch in the Atlantic Herring fishery and there may be an equivalent or greater amount in other small-mesh fisheries in New England and the Mid-Atlantic.

Actual estimates of river herring bycatch in the offshore trawl fisheries are hard to obtain. Recent data from the National Marine Fisheries Service Observer database indicate that between 2004 and 2008 only 48 out of 1065 Atlantic mackerel fishing trips had federally trained observers onboard to document the catch.

River herring were once so common in areas along the Atlantic Coast that many towns had festivals named after them. Now, as numbers have plummeted from millions of fish to some river counts which only reveal single digits, the festivals are a thing of the past and so are the memories. Spotting river herring was the equivalent of the American Robin heralding the arrival of spring for many coastal communities. Since the mid-1980s, the landings in the commercial river herring fishery plummeted by 97 percent. Today, bycatch of river herring in the commercial Atlantic herring fishery exceeds the in-river landings of river herring on the East Coast. Due to the growing evidence of declining stocks, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and North Carolina have closed their river herring fisheries. An important forage fish for predator fish, marine mammals, and seabirds, river herring are also referred to as alewife and blueback.

Last week, the Network and other conservation and recreational fishing organizations sent a letter to the ASMFC requesting strong action to conserve river herring. The effort was preceded by an earlier letter signed by over 100 organizations from Maine to South Carolina and over 4000 email responses to the ASMFC calling for reducing river herring bycatch at sea.

The ASMFC has taken strong action; now it is up the New England and Mid-Atlantic Councils to take significant steps as well.