PUBLIC COMMENT SOUGHT ON ACTION TO PROTECT
RIVER HERRING AND AMERICAN SHAD
FROM OCEAN BYCATCH

public comment closed July 9, 2010.

7/12/10  The federal Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council announced its intention in June 2010 to address river herring and shad bycatch through its management plan for small-mesh fisheries (Amendment 14 to the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan). Comments from the public were sought to determine whether or not to move forward.

Despite inland habitat restoration work and severe restrictions on directed fishing, American shad and river herring populations remain at historic lows. As a result, all Atlantic states must close their recreational and commercial river herring fisheries by 2012 and their American shad fisheries by 2013 unless they can prove the fisheries would be sustainable. The impacts of depleted river herring and shad runs extend well beyond the severe social and economic costs to our coastal communities. River herring and shad are essential to the coastal forage base that supports a wealth of predators like striped bass, bluefish, ospreys and dolphins.

Bycatch in ocean fisheries is believed to be a major source of fishing mortality, yet bycatch continues to be loosely monitored and poorly regulated. Though they spawn in river systems, river herring and shad spend the majority of their lives at sea migrating up and down the coast between feeding grounds. While in ocean waters, they mingle at times with schools of other small pelagic fish like sea herring and mackerel, which are pursued by industrial trawl fisheries.

NCMC asked the public to urge the Mid-Atlantic Council to take action through Amendment 14 to implement: 1) high levels of at-sea catch monitoring in the mackerel and squid fisheries; 2) enforceable bycatch limits; and, 3) bycatch-triggered trawl fishing area closures that protect river herring and shad in offshore areas where they are known to congregate.

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HERRING AND OTHER LITTLE FISH
NEED YOUR HELP

click and select "Conserving Marine Ecosystems" in the program drop down menu

Be sure to check our publication released August 2006:  Taking the Bait -- Are America's Fisheries Out-Competing Predators for their Prey?

Download our Forage First! Fish File, an educational fact sheet.

Learn more about our efforts to Save the Stripers, and their food supply, menhaden.