Where We Sail
by Tom Pelton, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Offshore Fleets Are Accidentally Killing Protected Fish
A
merican shad and river herring play important roles in the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean ecosystems. They are prey for birds, marine mammals, and other fish in the rivers where they spawn and during their long migrations to the sea. Additionally, these species once supported commercial and recreational fisheries and even sustained the Continental Army during the American Revolution, leading to their nickname of America’s “founding fish.”
Still, these steps have not done enough. Goldsborough says, “Millions of shad and river herring continue to be killed by industrial fishing vessels targeting mackerel in federal waters of the Atlantic. They need protection through strong federal regulation.” CBF is appealing for help from the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council, which manages the federal waters of the Atlantic Ocean between three miles and 200 miles offshore. The problem is that fleets of trawlers drag nets the size of football ##American shad. Photo courtesy of CBF fields to catch Atlantic mackerel, but accidentally also catch and kill American shad and river herring in the process. CBF wants the council to protect shad and river herring through strong new federal management and conservation efforts. The measures necessary to protect the fish include increased monitoring and reporting of these accidental catches (also called “bycatch”), as well as establishment of science-based limits on the number of shad Unfortunately, populations of shad and river herring that can be caught at sea. and river herring have declined to historic The creation of caps on “bycatch” of lows, threatening coastal environments, shad and herring would force the fishing economies, and traditions dating back fleets to avoid certain parts of the ocean at more than 200 years, according to the certain parts of the year or risk exceeding Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s (CBF) the limits—and facing potential penalties, Fisheries Director, Bill Goldsborough. including perhaps a temporary ban on Because shad and herring are critical to fishing. the Bay and its rivers and streams, Chesapeake states are doing all they can to bring Learn More them back by making it illegal to catch Visit the Bay Daily blog at cbf.org/baydaily them, by building fish passageways over or read CBF’s web page about American shad dams, and by paying for pollution control and river herring: cbf.org/about-the-bay/moreprojects. Programs to spawn shad in than-just-the-bay/creatures-of-the-chesapeake/ hatcheries for restocking in Bay tributaries american-shad have been active for decades. 34 November 2013 SpinSheet
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