Saving Seafood

Fishery council says no to river herring and shad plan

October 7, 2016 — A call to put river herring and shad in the same fishery management plan as mackerel, squid and butterfish was voted down by the Mid-Atlantic Marine Fisheries Council.

Incidental bycatches in ocean trawl fisheries was a main reason behind the consideration, but the council will stick with a plan already in place for dealing with it.

American shad, hickory shad, alewife and blueback herring — a quartet of anadromous fish that are at historic low population levels — often mix with mackerel in the ocean.

They get scooped up incidentally in commercial trawl nets meant for mackerel. The MAMFC said the amount may be substantial enough to negatively impact their populations.

The plan had the support of many sport fishermen, environmental and conservation groups on the Eastern seaboard who said the it would’ve led to more aggressive stewardship on the species.

NOAA Fisheries Announces Proposed Management Measures for the 2016-2018 Atlantic Herring Fishery

June 22, 2016 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries announces proposed management measures for the Atlantic Herring fishery for the 2016-2018 fishing years. The proposed catch limits for fishing years 2016 through 2018 are slightly lower than the current catch limits because the most recent assessment shows a slightly lower spawning stock biomass and a slightly higher fishing mortality.

We are also proposing to increase the catch cap limits for river herring and American shad to increase access to the fishery, while still providing sufficient protection for these species.

Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register and supplemental documents.

The comment period is open through July 21.

You may submit comments by any one of the following methods:

  • Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Click the “Comment Now!” icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
  • Mail: Submit written comments to NMFS, Greater Atlantic Regional Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope “Comments on 2016-2018 Herring Specifications.”
  • Fax: (978) 281-9135, Attn: Shannah Jaburek.

Questions? Contact Jennifer Goebel at 978-281-9175 or email jennifer.goebel@noaa.gov.

Long slog ahead for new attempt to move shad past Conowingo, other dams

June 15, 2016 — Leon Senft remembers a time when he and other fishermen lined the shore of the Susquehanna River below the Conowingo Dam and hooked American shad almost as fast as they could cast their lines in the churning water.

“We really had a bonanza there for a while,” recalled Senft, 85, who’s been angling for the big migratory fish longer than most people are alive. “It was not unusual to catch 50–100 a day. My personal best was 175.”

That catch-and-release heyday for Senft was maybe 20 years ago, when American shad appeared to be on the rebound from a severe decline in their springtime spawning runs. Optimism abounded, as a big new fishlift hoisted more and more of them over the 94-foot dam on their way upriver to reproduce.

But the rebound went off the rails. Although the number of American shad getting a lift over Conowingo rose steadily for a decade, it then dropped and kept dropping.

Now, after years of study and negotiations, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Exelon Corp., Conowingo’s owner, have come up with a new plan for rebuilding the Susquehanna’s runs of American shad and river herring — related species that are even more depleted. In a press release announcing the deal in April, a federal wildlife official called it “a victory for everyone who lives or recreates on the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay.”

But those close to the situation are still cautious. Given the discouraging track record so far, they say, bringing these fish back will take a sustained effort for decades — if it can be done at all.

“I was around when we did this last time, 25 years ago,” said Bill Goldsborough, senior fisheries scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. “We thought that was going to do a lot more than it did.”

Read the full story at the Chesapeake Bay Journal

PENNSYLVANIA: Exelon reaches agreement to restore fish in Susquehanna

April 29, 2016 — Efforts to improve American shad and river herring populations in the Susquehanna River have increased thanks to a 50-year agreement announced on Monday by Exelon Generation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Josh Tryninewski, a biologist for the state Fish and Boat Commission who manages the shad restoration effort, said the river’s shad population has been declining since 2001 because of limited access to adequate spawning habitats.

Shad and river herring are returning to their spawning on the Susquehanna at their lowest numbers since the 1980s, according to Exelon’s news release. The population peaked in 2001, when hundreds of thousands of shad and river herring passed Exelon’s Conowingo Dam, but that number has dwindled to 1,500 shad and 1,000 herring per year.

Read the full story from The York Dispatch in Bloomberg

‘Landmark agreement’ reached to restore American shad to Susquehanna

April 26, 2016 — The owners of the Conowingo Dam and the federal government have signed what they call a “landmark agreement” in long-struggling efforts to restore American shad to the Susquehanna River.

The agreement between Exelon Generation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service calls for up to 100,000 shad and 100,000 river herring to be transported and released to native spawning water above four hydroelectric dams in the Lower Susquehanna, including two in Lancaster County.

The agreement came out of efforts to pressure Exelon to improve the shad’s chances as part of the utility’s quest to obtain a federal license to operate for another 46 years.

Shad was once the iconic fish in the Susquehanna. It was a major food source, an economic driver and a way of life in Lancaster County when they made spawning runs from the Atlantic Ocean.

Read the full story in Lancaster Online

NORTH CAROLINA: Sutton Lake back on fishing track

SUTTON LAKE, N.C. (March 28, 2016) — When the coal-fired power plant at Sutton Lake shut down and its replacement gas-fired plant was under construction, the bass fishing suffered. N.C. Wildlife Commission District 4 Biologist Michael Fisk confirmed that the fish were thin in an interview. “Thin” is laymen’s terminology for relative weight. A fish with a relative weight of 80 is thin for its length while a fish with a relative weight of 100 is in good condition.

“In our most recent sampling, relative weights had recovered,” Fisk said. “It could have been the shad that were usually in the discharge canal in winter were not as abundant, or it could have been another factor.”

Biologists caught 298 bass in their 2015 electro-fishing survey. The largest weighed 5.1 pounds and average length was 12 to 17 inches. Relative weights averaged 87, compared to only 80 in 2014. The catch rate was 71 fish per hour, comparable to 2014. Fisk said the overall fishery was trending upward.

With that in mind, I called Ned Connelly. A couple of years ago, he caught a 10-pound, 3-ounce bass at the lake using a Zara Spook topwater lure.

“It was the fish of a lifetime,” he said. “I took a photo and weighed it before I let it go.”

Read the full story at StarNews Online

MAINE: Costs, fish, property values are factors in the future of 3 Mousam River dams

December 29, 2015 — KENNEBUNK, Maine — A Kennebunk electric utility is weighing whether to remove the three lowest dams on the Mousam River or face potentially costly upgrades to restore fish passage to a river that once hosted large runs of spawning fish.

Trustees at Kennebunk Light & Power District have until March 2017 to decide whether to seek federal relicensing of three dams that the nonprofit utility owns on the Mousam River or propose several alternatives for the facilities. One option under serious consideration – and being pursued by local conservationists and sportsmen – is the removal of some or all three of the dams, including the large Kesslen Dam located in the heart of downtown Kennebunk.

The Mousam River is the only major river system in Maine emptying into the Gulf of Maine that lacks any methods for fish such as American shad, alewives or Atlantic salmon to bypass the dams, effectively blocking them from accessing more than 300 miles of watershed. Removing the three dams would allow the lower 9 miles of the Mousam River to flow freely – although an additional 12 dams remain on the upper stretch of river – and is part of an intense river restoration push in Maine.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald