Species Profile: AtlanticRiver Herring Sturgeon The States and Federal Government Seek to Reduce Mortality through Sustainable Fishery Management Plans and Bycatch Reduction Measures

Introduction majority of their adult lives at sea, but Species Snapshot The Fishery Management Plan (FMP) return to freshwater areas to spawn for Shad and River Herring, approved in in the spring. Alewife spawn in rivers, 1985, was among the first FMPs to be lakes, and tributaries from northeastern ALEWIFE developed by the Commission. Since that Newfoundland to South Carolina, but Alosa pseudoharengus time, the Commission has undertaken are most abundant in the Northeast and three major amendments to the 1985 Mid-Atlantic. Blueback herring prefer General Characteristics: Plan. Amendment 2, approved in 2009, to spawn in swift flowing rivers and • Adults average 10-11” in length; 8-9 oz. in shepherded in a new management tributaries from Nova Scotia to northern weight regime for these important prey species; Florida, but are most numerous in waters • Range from Nova Scotia to South Carolina one which required Atlantic coastal from Chesapeake Bay south. • Primarily feed on plankton states and jurisdictions to document the • Congregate in large schools, numbering in the sustainability of their fisheries or prohibit Mature alewife (ages three to eight) thousands recreational and commercial fishing for and blueback herring (ages three to • Excellent food fish, marketed both fresh and river herring. six) migrate rapidly downstream after salted spawning. Juveniles remain in tidal Interesting Facts: A migratory species that traverses freshwater nursery areas in spring and • In the US, alewife are known as sawbelly, both state and federal waters, the early summer, but may also move grayback, bigeye, and freshwater and spring Commission has also worked closely upstream with the encroachment of herring. In Canada they are known as with the New England and Mid-Atlantic saline water. As water temperatures gaspereau or kiack. Fishery Management Councils (MAFMC decline in the fall, juveniles move • The origin of the name alewife is a reference and NEFMC, respectively) to reduce downstream to more saline waters. Little to the large belly of the fish, which reminded the bycatch of river herring in small information is available on the life history New England fishermen of alehouse wives. mesh fisheries. The Councils are moving of juvenile and adult river herring after • The Latin name pseudoharengus means “false forward with developing and establishing they emigrate to the sea and before herring.” catch caps to reduce incidental harvest of they mature and return to freshwater to river herring. spawn. BLUEBACK HERRING Life History Commercial and Alosa aestivalis River herring, which is the collective Recreational Fisheries term for alewife and blueback herring, River herring formerly supported General Characteristics: are an anadromous fish that spend the significant commercial and recreational • Adults average 11” in length; 7 oz. in weight fisheries • Range from Nova Scotia to Northern Florida Atlantic Coast River Herring Landings throughout their • Primarily feed on plankton Source: personal communication from NOAA Fisheries Statistics Division, range. Fisheries • Name derived from dark blue/bluish gray Silver Spring, MD 2013 were traditionally coloring on back 8080 executed in rivers, estuaries, and 7070 Interesting Facts: coastal waters • Blueback herring are also known as a summer 6060 using weirs, traps, herring or blackbelly. dip nets, and gill • Blueback herring have teeth on the roof of 5050 nets. Although their mouths, while alewife do not. The teeth 4040 recreational disappear with age. harvest data are 3030 scarce, most Stock Status: 2020 harvest is believed • Varies by river system for both species, refer to Landings (millions of pounds)

Landings (millions of pounds) to come from Table 1. 1010 the commercial • Both species are classified as a Species of 00 industry. Concern by NOAA Fisheries.

1951 1953 1955 1957 1959 1961 1963 1965 1967 1969 1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 • Both species are currently being considered for 1951 1953 1955 1957 1959 1961 1963 1965 1967 1969 1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 Timeline of Management Actions: FMP (’85); Amendment 1 (’99); listing under the Endangered Species Act. Addendum I (’00); Amendment 2 - River Herring (’09)

ASMFC Fisheries Focus • 6 • Volume 22, Issue 3, June/July 2013 Commercial landings for both species have and recreational fisheries since January 1, declined dramatically from historic highs. 2012, unless a state or jurisdiction had a Landings by domestic and foreign fleets Board approved sustainable management peaked at 140 million pounds in 1969. Since plan. A sustainable fishery is defined as “a 2000, domestic landings totaled less than commercial and/or recreational fishery that two million pounds in any given year, with will not diminish the potential future stock a historic low of 736,000 pounds occurring reproduction and recruitment.” The plans in 2005. Landings in 2011 were estimated must describe sustainability targets that are at 1.5 million pounds, a 27% decrease from achieved to prevent closure of the fishery. 2010 levels. The majority of these landings Plans have currently been approved for occurred in Maine. Maine, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Amendment Stock Status 2 also requires states to implement fishery- In 2012, an independent panel of dependent and independent monitoring scientists endorsed the findings of the programs and contains recommendations benchmark stock assessment for river to member states and jurisdictions to herring, concluding the overall coastwide conserve, restore, and protect critical river population of river herring (alewife and herring habitat. blueback herring) stocks on the US Atlantic coast is depleted to near historic lows. Federal Action The “depleted” determination was used In support of the sustainable management instead of “overfished” and “overfishing” actions taken by the Commission, both the because of the many factors that have Table 1. Status of select alewife and MAFMC and NEFMC have recently taken blueback herring stocks along the Atlantic actions regarding the incidental catch of contributed to the declining abundance of coast. Status relative to historic levels is river herring, which include not just directed pre-1970. Recent trends reflect last ten river herring and American shad in federal and incidental fishing, but also habitat loss, years of data. waters fisheries (3-200 miles from shore). predation, and climate change. A=Alewife only; B=Blueback herring only; In May, MAFMC approved a 236 metric ton A,B=Alewife and blueback herring by species (520,380 pound) cap on incidental catch of The stock assessment used both fishery- river herring and shad in the U.S. Atlantic dependent and -independent data as well as information about mackerel fishery for 2014. This catch cap is one of several river herring biology and life history. The assessment included protective measures being implemented as part of Amendment historical landings back to 1887, although the fisheries that 14 to the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish FMP. The target river herring date back to colonial times. The quality of Amendment also calls for increased reporting and monitoring the data has improved as reporting requirements have been requirements for fishermen and dealers. At its June meeting, implemented. The assessment examined run size indices from NEFMC moved forward with the development of river herring five states, young-of-year indices from 10 states, adult net and shad catch caps through Draft Framework 3 to Amendment and electrofishing indices from three states, and 19 fishery- 5 to the Atlantic Herring FMP. The goal of the proposed catch independent trawl surveys conducted in coastal waters. The cap is to provide strong incentives for the industry to continue fishery-independent data sets represent a relatively short time to avoid and reduce the catch of these species to the extent series, compared to the long history of the fishery, and all of practicable. If approved, the catch cap would apply to all trips them were initiated after the peak and sharp decline in landings. landing more than the open access possession limit of 6,600 pounds of Atlantic herring. River herring were assessed on a river-by-river basis where the data were available. For the vast majority of rivers, the data Endangered Species Petition were not available to conduct a model-based stock assessment. In August 2011, the National Resources Defense Council peti- Instead, trend analysis was used to identify patterns in the tioned NOAA Fisheries to list alewife and blueback herring as available fishery-dependent and -independent data sets. Of the threatened under the Endangered Species Act. NOAA Fisheries 52 stocks of alewife and blueback herring for which data were reviewed the petition and found that listing may be warranted. available, 23 were depleted relative to historic levels, one stock In 2012, NOAA Fisheries conducted a series of workshops to was increasing, and the status of 28 stocks could not be deter- gather more information on the status of and threats to river mined because the time-series of available data was too short. herring. The workshops focused on stock structure, extinction risk, and the potential impact of climate change. A proposed Atlantic Coastal Management rule on the potential listing is expected this year. In 2009, in response to concerns regarding declining river herring populations, the Commission’s Shad and River Herring For more information, please contact Kate Taylor, Senior Management Board approved Amendment 2 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at [email protected] or FMP. The Amendment has prohibited state waters commercial 703.842.0740.

ASMFC Fisheries Focus • 7 • Volume 22, Issue 3, June/July 2013