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Regulators Reject River Herring Protections, For Now

Courtesy: Maine.gov

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - Regional fishing industry regulators have rejected a plan to list river herring and shad as part of the Atlantic Herring fishery.

The measure would have put the two species under a federal management plan that would have included greater conservation. But the New England Fishery Management Council concluded there was not enough evidence to support the move.

Environmental advocates want more protection for river herring and shad - anadromous fish that spend most of their lives at sea but return to freshwater to spawn in the spring.

In 2013, NOAA fisheries rejected a move to add river herring - which consists of alewives and blueback herring - onto the list of species covered by the Endangered Species Act.

The latest proposal is for the two species to be included in the Atlantic Herring fishery - something which supporters say would help safeguard the fish by putting them under a federal management plan.

But council members meeting this week in Portsmouth New Hampshire, concluded there was not enough useful data available on shad and river herring to justify doing that. Lori Steele is the herring plan coordinator with the New England Fishery Management Council.

Credit Courtesy: Maine.gov
The lifecycle of river herring, including blueback herring and alewives.

"The problems associated with a lack of science are not likely to be resolved by adding these stocks as stocks in the fishery or by federally managing them, at least not in the short-term," Steele says.

Conservationists are unhappy with the decision. Speaking to the council ahead of the vote, Peter Baker, of the Pew Charitable Trusts, said a rejection of the listing proposal would be a poor decision, "and that it would show a lack of interest and a of lack commitment, both by this council and the National Marine Fisheries Service, to stop river herring from eventually going extinct," he said.

Council members did not completely reject the idea of putting river herring and shad under federal management. Their vote included a commitment to revisit the issue within the next three years.