By Michael R. Helfrich, Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper, Stewards of the Lower Susquehanna, Inc. (SOLS)

In the summertime, our rivers attract us for boating, swimming, and fishing. This time reminds us that we can keep those waters healthy by protecting the balance of a healthy river ecosystem.

This Wednesday, federal fishery managers that regulate fishing in ocean waters will decide on a set of rules regarding little fish, that live most of the year at sea, but return to our rivers each spring.

American Shad and river herring, also known as alewife and blueback herring, may not be the most glamorous of fish, but they are among the most important. Small in size and abundant, American Shad and river herring play a major role in our river and coastal ecosystems. They are forage fish: schooling fish that occupy the crucial midpoint of the food web. Many predators, including striped bass, and species we love to watch, like bald eagles and osprey, feed on these species.  When populations of forage fish dwindle, the survival of these predators is threatened.

For decades, American Shad and river herring have been disappearing from the rivers and coasts from Maine to North Carolina because of dams, habitat degradation, and in-river overfishing. However, over the past 30 years, millions of dollars in public and private funds have been spent on restoring habitat, and dam removal and or adding fish passages. Along with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission who has been working for nearly 150 years to restore American Shad, other groups in Pennsylvania, like Stewards of the Lower Susquehanna, American Rivers, PennEnvironment, the Juniata Valley Audubon, and the Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers have worked to help restore American Shad, alewives and bluebacks’ yearly migrations. But now, another threat has emerged: unintentional catch, or bycatch, of American Shad and river herring by industrial-scale vessels fishing in the ocean.

These industrial trawlers catch hundreds of millions of pounds of Atlantic herring and mackerel every year. In the process, they incidentally kill and waste millions of pounds of other animals, such as marine mammals like seals, dolphins and whales, and important fish species such as bluefin tuna, striped bass, haddock, and American Shad, alewives and bluebacks. The Atlantic herring and mackerel trawlers are the largest vessels on the East Coast and use nets as long and wide as a football field, with tiny mesh that scoops up everything in their path. Often, two of these ships tow one huge net between them in a practice known as pair trawling, increasing their destructive power.

Soon, federal fishery managers will have the opportunity to help protect American Shad and river herring on the entire East Coast. On June 13, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) will decide on a set of rules to regulate industrial fishing in the region.

Since fishing for American Shad and river herring is closed year round in the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, their recovery is critical for the ecological health of Pennsylvania's rivers and streams. Now is the time for our fishery managers in the MAFMC to extend protections into federal waters, three miles off the Atlantic coast. If they fail to act, American Shad and river herring populations could continue to collapse under the strain of unchecked pressure from the massive industrial fishing operations, affecting the entire coastal food web.

Let’s kick off this summer by passing meaningful reform of the industrial Atlantic herring and mackerel fishery, so we can keep enjoying our rivers and oceans, before it’s too late.

Michael R. Helfrich, Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper, Stewards of the Lower Susquehanna, Inc. (SOLS) based in York, Pa.  He can be contacted by sending email to: Michael@LowSusRiverkeeper.org.

6/11/2012