Urge mid-Atlantic fishery managers to protect threatened river herring and shad in federal waters
September 20, 2011
Riverkeeper Team
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is to meet Oct. 11-13 in Galloway, N.J. and is expected to advance new protections for river herring and American shad at sea that will contribute to the resurgence of their coastal populations.
The plan, Amendment 14, includes a range of options to monitor and control the unrestricted catch of river herring and shad by ocean fishing vessels targeting squid or mackerel. From 2005 to 2009, only 8 percent of mackerel and 4 percent of Loligo squid fishing trips were monitored by observers—much lower than similar U.S. fisheries.
Alarmingly, the observers recorded an average incidental catch of more than 1 million pounds of river herring and 150,000 pounds of shad a year. Without these fish in the water, their predators—such as striped bass and tuna, along with seabirds, seals and river otters—suffer.
We need your help. Tell the Council to send all of the options in Amendment 14 out to public comment and approve a plan that can put an end to the unrestricted catch of river herring and shad at sea.