River Herring ESA Listing Denied

NOAA Fisheries recently announced that listing is not warranted at this time for alewife and blueback herring, collectively known as river herring, as either threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The agency has already funded and will be implementing, in conjunction with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and other partners, a coordinated coast-wide effort to continue to address data needs and proactively conserve river herring and their habitat.

According to NOAA Fisheries, the agency intends to establish a technical working group and to continue to work closely with the ASMFC and others to develop a long-term conservation plan for river herring. NOAA Fisheries intends to revisit the status of river herring within the next five years.

For more information, visit:

https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/08/12/2013-19380/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-and-plants-endangered-species-act-listing-determination-for

source: NOAA Fisheries

Maine Alewife Life Cycle Remains a Mystery

Alewives | Credit: NOAA

Alewives are currently making their annual spawning runs from the ocean to freshwater lakes. Despite their historical commercial and cultural importance to Maine communities, there is still much to be learned about alewife ecology.

While the alewife run in Maine is in full swing, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) and the University of Southern Maine (USM) are collecting alewife samples as part of an effort to unlock some of the mysteries surrounding this important forage species. Study locations include more than 20 river systems and lakes along the Gulf of Maine coast.

Alewife populations along the Atlantic coast have exhibited dramatic declines over the past 20 years despite efforts to remove dams and restore waterways.

It is unclear where alewives migrate to after leaving freshwater for the ocean or whether the fish born in a particular lake continue to school together or mix with other alewives in the ocean.

Many communities lease permits to alewife harvesters, and most of the catch is sold as lobster bait. The sheer numbers of alewives that run up rivers provide protection for returning adult Atlantic salmon running up these same rivers and for Atlantic smolts that are moving downstream to the ocean at this time of year. Alewives are also a food source for osprey, herons, otters, cod, haddock, and other animals.

Maine's alewife population is relatively healthy compared to other states, but scientists do not know why. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, North Carolina and Virginia have closed their alewife fisheries, and Maine may be forced to do the same unless the fisheries are proven to be sustainable.

source: Gulf of Maine Research Institute