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Herring Run closed.Harwich votes three-year moratorium on harvest
HARWICH - (1/29/03) There will be no taking of herring from the town runs for the next three years. Selectmen Monday night voted to put in place a moratorium to protect the dwindling resource. An initial concept for protection was floated by Tom Leach, Natural Resources Director, who suggested limits be reduced and a prohibition be put in place for the 2006 season to protect juvenile alewives and help regenerate the resource. Leach said he did not think the board would be ready to act immediately on a moratorium. But Selectmen questioned the delay, pointing out if the town waits too long the run could be lost. He said there has been a degradation of the entire run over the past 15 years.
The poor condition of the run has been caused by three years of drought. The water levels in the spawning headwaters from 2000 to 2003 were so low, fry were unable to get through the connecting streams at Long Pond to return to the ocean. The juvenile fish languishing in the ponds became food for small mouth bass and pickerel. Leach said the vast majority of alewives returning to spawning grounds are of the three-year class, though there are some four and five-year classes. But the impact of the drought was obvious this year with herring wardens reporting “only one significant day at the run.” The natural resources officer expressed concern for losing the run if additional fish are removed from the reproductive cycle.
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