Herring Run Monitoring and Restoration
In recent years, river herring populations throughout the Northeast have declined dramatically. As a result, in 2005 the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) enacted a 3-year ban on the harvest, possession or sale of river herring. Since the moratorium, river herring populations have not rebounded significantly. In November 2008, DMF extended the moratorium to 2011, to allow the herring to recover and to allow fisheries scientists more time to identify the causes of decline and measures to protect the fishery.
Possible causes of herring decline include obstructions along runs, increased predation, changes in water flow, water withdrawals, loss of habitat, trawler fishing, water pollution and climate change.
We are conducting herring counts and monitoring to help towns to restore herring runs and to collect information to help fisheries managers understand why herring have declined. In Brewster, we are conducting herring monitoring at Stony Brook, using volunteer herring counts and video monitoring. In Orleans, we are helping the Town to monitor herring at the Pilgrim Lake run. In Sandwich , we will be helping the Town to monitor the return of herring following restoration of a fish ladder to Upper Shawme Pond. This spring, we are planning to start new volunteer herring count programs in Wellfleet, Chatham and Harwich, working with local Herring Wardens and natural resource managers. All of our herring count programs are designed to collect information to help restore fish runs.