An opinion piece by Mike Flaherty laid blame for the demise of East Coast river herring on the midwater trawl sea herring fishery. I respectfully disagree with his assertions that the midwater trawl fishery for herring and mackerel is essentially the smoking gun.
There are many sources of river herring mortality. We are actively addressing ours, discussed in more detail below. I also trust that the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries will choose to set the record straight as their lead anadromous fisheries biologist was quoted by Flaherty from a 2004 meeting and taken out of context of today's body of knowledge.
Much has been learned since 2004 about river herring mortalities. As an industry, we have taken a proactive approach to minimizing our interactions with river herring stocks. As well, the public deserves to hear some rarely heard facts about interactions of river herring with commercial fisheries:
• Incidental catch of river herring is not a new phenomenon. National Marine Fisheries Service surveys since 1960 consistently document river herring catches in the bottom trawl survey from Maine to North Carolina.
• Other fisheries throughout the northeast catch and kill an amount of river herring equivalent to the midwater trawl fishery.
• No river herring stock assessment exists to provide a benchmark for recovery efforts, so determining the conservation cost-benefit of any remedial actions, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act known as NEPA, is very difficult and further complicated by natural mortality of river herring and habitat destruction.
• As the lead management agency with jurisdiction over river herring, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is working through its science-based technical committee to address the issue region-wide among all fisheries with documented river herring interactions.
In 2004, some midwater vessel operators began experimenting with voluntary bycatch reduction efforts. Success with these efforts has led to the funding of a more formal, multi-year river herring avoidance project.
Developed by the midwater trawl industry in partnership with the UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, and endorsed by Alewife Harvesters of Maine and the Environmental Defense Fund, this project will start in October.
Read the complete opinion piece from the South Coast Today.