Herring Management Meeting

[slapshot]

River herring are in the sea for 10 or 11 months out of the year. They are only in the river for a very short time. Juveniles don't return to spawn until they are 4 years old. So river herring are really sea herring when you think about it.

[Redliner]

Flatts, I would personally like to thank you for all of the hard work you have done on this important subject and others.

I would also like to add this small piece wriiten by Dr. Micheal Armstrong a biologist with Mass DMF

With all the uncertainty that can occur when the
herring are in the rivers, less is known about what
happens to them when they leave in July to spend the
winter in the ocean.
Some believe trawlers looking for sea herring and
mackerel are catching the river herring incidentally
as bycatch.
"We know that in the winter that, to some degree, the
runs stick together and mix it up with the sea
herring," Mr. Armstrong said. "They certainly don't
target them, but they can pick away at them. They are
landing 300,000 pounds at a whack. So say that the
Mattapoisett River run is 100,000 fish, which is about
50,000 pounds. In theory you could catch an entire run
of fish. It could wipe them out."
Source: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily...4/a01lo414.htm

I will do whatever I can to help our situation, let us know. Thanks Red

[flatts1]

Thanks Redliner,

Actually, you will find that quote from Mr. Armstrong on page 17 of 27 of my herring comments to NMFS that I submitted on March 2 (still haven't heard back).

http://www.basspond.com/articles/doc...c_comments.pdf

Where else did you find that quote? It's good to know that others are on the ball with this issue?

I'll keep you all posted as to what folks can do to help whenever I hear about it.

Although at this point I'm not optomistic and I fear that the damage may already be done. I say this because the herring process has already been dragged out for so long and the result has been a 2 YEAR SPEC (instead of the usual 1 year). This means that we may be stuck with continued unsustainable fishing practices for 2 more years before something gets done about it (and no gurantees it will happen by then either). Technically, it can be revisited before then but I don't think the "will" is there for it at the Council level.

As we have seen time and time again, often it takes a lawsuit to have NEFMC do the right thing, and I'm seriously considering filing one depending on what the final rule from NMFS is. We should hear about that any day now.

Thanks Again,
Mike