New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
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New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Sustainable Fishing Plan for New York River Herring Stocks Kathryn A. Hattala, Andrew W. Kahnle Bureau of Marine Resources, Hudson River Fisheries Unit and Robert D. Adams Hudson River Estuary Program September 2011 Submitted for review to the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Amendment 2 to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Shad and river Herring Interstate Fishery Management Plan requires member states to demonstrate that fisheries for river herring (alewife and blueback herring) within their state waters are sustainable. A sustainable fishery is defined as one that will not diminish potential future reproduction and recruitment of herring stocks. If states cannot demonstrate sustainability to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), they must close their herring fisheries. New York State proposes to maintain a restricted river herring (alewife and blueback herring) fishery in the Hudson River and tributaries and to close river herring fisheries elsewhere in the State. This proposal conforms to Goal 1 of the New York State Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda. Stock Status Blueback herring and alewife are known to occur and spawn in New York State in the Hudson River and tributaries, the Bronx River, and several streams on Long Island. The Hudson River is tidal to the first dam at Troy, NY (rkm 245). Data on stock status are available for the Hudson River and tributaries. Few data are available on river herring in streams in Bronx County, southern Westchester County, or on Long Island. River herring are absent in the New York portion of the Delaware River. Hudson River: Commercial and recreational fisheries exploit the spawning populations of river herring in the Hudson River and tributaries. Fixed and drifted gill, cast and scap/lift nets are used in the main stem Hudson, while scap/lift and cast nets are used in the tributaries. Recreational fishers often use commercial net gears because permit fees remain at 1911 levels. Anglers also are allowed take of river herring with variety of small nets and hook and line. In the last ten years, about 250 fishers annually purchased commercial gill net permits and approximately 240 purchased commercial scap net permits. However only 84 gill net and 93 scap/lift fishers reported using the gear licensed. Fishers using commercial gears are required to report landings annually. Most river herring taken in the Hudson and tributaries are used as bait in the recreational striped bass fishery. Anglers and subsistence fishers take a few river herring from Long Island streams. Data on commercial harvest of river herring are available since the early 1900s. Landings peaked in the early 1900s and in the 1930s and then declined through the 1980s. Landings increased again through 2003, but have since declined. Reported commercial harvest has remained below 50,000 river herring per year since the early 1990s. A series of creel surveys and estimates since 2001 indicated substantial and increasing harvest of river herring by recreational anglers from the Hudson River and tributaries. We estimated that approximately 240,000 river herring were harvested by recreational anglers in 2007. The extent of the loss of river herring through bycatch in ocean commercial fisheries remains largely unknown but is expected to be significant. Fishery dependent data on river herring status since 2000 are available from commercial reports 2 and from on-board monitoring. Catch per unit effort (CPUE) in fixed (anchored) gill nets fished in the main stem river has increased. Conversely, CPUE in scap nets fished in tributaries initially declined, but then varied without trend. Mean length of river herring observed in the commercial harvest has declined slightly since 2000. We feel that the CPUE in fixed gear below the Bear Mountain Bridge provides the best annual measure of abundance because it intercepts river herring migrating past the gear to upriver spawning locations.. Fishery independent data on size and age composition of river herring spawning in the Hudson River Estuary are available from 1936 and intermittently since the late 1970s. Sample size has been small in most years. The largest fish were collected in the 1930s. Size of both blueback herring and alewife has declined over the last 30 years. Age data were obtained from scales in 1936 and the late 1980s. Since then, ages were estimated from age length keys developed by Maine, Massachusetts, and Maryland. Observed and estimated age at length of Hudson River fish varied substantially among methods and thus age can only be used for trends within method. Annual mean age since the late 1980s has remained stable in blueback herring and female alewife, but declined in male alewife. Because of the uncertainty with estimated ages, we estimated annual mortality with length-based methods. Estimates varied substantially depending on assumed model inputs and therefore actual total mortality on the stocks remains unknown. However, we should emphasize that mortality on stocks must have been high in the last 30 years to have so consistently reduced mean size and presumably mean age. Within method, estimates of total mortality generally increased for both species since 1980. This increase was most pronounced in alewife. Young of year production has been measured annually by beach seine since 1980. CPUE of alewife remained low through the late 1990s and has since increased erratically. CPUE of young of year blueback herring has varied with a very slight downward trend since 1980. Streams on Long Island, Bronx and south shore of Westchester County: Limited data have been collected for some of the river herring populations in these areas. The data are not adequate to characterize stock condition. Delaware River in New York: No records exist to document the presence of river herring in this portion of the river. Proposed Fishery for the Hudson River Given the inconsistent measures of stock status described above, we do not feel that the data warrant a complete closure of the Hudson River fishery at this time. New York State proposes a five year restricted fishery in the main-stem Hudson River, a partial closure of the fishery in tributaries, and annual stock monitoring. We set a sustainability target for juvenile indices. We will monitor, but not set targets for mean length from fishery independent spawning stock sampling and CPUE in the commercial fixed gill net fishery in the lower river below the Bear Mountain Bridge. We will also monitor age structure, frequency of repeat spawning, and total mortality from fishery independent sampling if we can resolve problems with age determination and mortality estimation. 3 A summary of existing and proposed restrictions is provided. Proposed restrictions to the recreational fishery include: a ten fish per day creel limit for individual anglers with a boat limit of 50, and a 10 fish creel limit per day for paying customers with a boat limit of 50 for charter vessels, no fishing within 825 ft (250m) of any man made or natural barrier in the main river and tributaries, no use of nets in tributaries, and the continuation of various small nets in the main river. Proposed restrictions to the commercial fishery and use of commercial gears include: a commercial verification requirement; a net ban in the upper 28 km of the main-stem estuary, shad spawning flats, or tributaries; gill net mesh and size restrictions; a ban on fixed gears or night fishing above the Bear Mountain Bridge; seine and scap/lift net size restrictions; extension of existing 36 hour lift period to all commercial net gears; increased net fees to account for inflation since 1911 when fees were set or the preferred option of creation of a new Hudson River Commercial Fish Permit; extension of the current Marine and Coastal District Charter /Party boat license to the tidal Hudson and tributaries at a cost of $250.00 annually; and monthly mandatory reporting of catch and harvest. We should note that Draft Addendum 3 to Amendment 6 of the ASMFC Interstate Management Plan for striped bass stipulates that states should reduce fishing mortality on spawning stocks by 50%. If this draft is approved by the ASMFC Striped Bass Management Board, we may have to restrict effort in the recreational striped bass fishery. Restrictions may include a reduction in use of bait such as river herring. Any reduction in effort will likely reduce demand for river herring and thus reduce losses in the Hudson stocks. Proposed Moratorium for streams on Long Island, Bronx County, the southern shore of Westchester County, and the Delaware River and its tributaries north of Port Jervis NY. Due to the inability to determine stock condition for these areas, the ASMFC Amendment 2 requires that a moratorium on river herring fishing be implemented. This SFP does not directly address ocean bycatch but focuses on fisheries in New York State waters. New York is working with the National Marine Fisheries Service, the New England Fishery Management Council and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council to deal with this issue. Both councils are in the process of amending the Atlantic Herring and the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid and Butterfish Plans to reduce bycatch of river herring. 4 1 CONTENTS 2 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 6 3 MANAGEMENT UNITS ......................................................................................................