Local fishermen unhappy as herring moratorium looms
Local fishermen are far from convinced that it is not too late to head off a possible statewide moratorium on fishing for migratory river herring.
That sentiment appeared evident Monday night as fishermen gathered in the Charles City County government building for a public hearing on the future of herring fishing. Fishermen remain wary, despite assurances from Virginia Marine Resources Commission officials and representatives from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the organization that regulates herring fishing in 15 Atlantic Coast states.
Monday’s hearing, hosted by the VMRC, was the lone live public comment session being held in Virginia. Hearings are also being staged in the other 14 states, all in preparation for a report to be handed to the 45-member Atlantic states commission in early February. Commission members, three from each state, will then decide whether to take no action, add regulations to the herring harvest, or ban herring fishing altogether. Final action is expected to take place next May.
Officials from the 15 states, ranging from Maine to Florida, are studying measures in response to a precipitous drop in the herring population based on annual harvest figures. Herring landings, according to an ASMFC report, reached a peak of 13.6 million pounds in 1984, but declined steadily thereafter, bottoming out at 1.1 million pounds in 2007.
The matter was initially addressed in 1999 with an amendment to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for species that include herring, but what was dubbed Amendment 1 made no changes. Now, officials have assembled a draft Amendment 2 that includes a moratorium as an extreme.
Four states — Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and North Carolina — have already imposed moratoriums. Local fishermen fear the same fate is in store for Virginia.
Reasons for the herring’s decline vary, depending on who’s doing the talking. Commission officials point to over-fishing as a likely cause. Most fishermen disagree and argue that propagation and state law protection of predatory fish species, such as blue catfish and striped bass (rockfish) that feast on herring schools, lie at the heart of the problem. Some say that beavers building dams that block herring access to spawning streams are the culprits.
Fishermen also contend that no studies exist to backup officials’ claims that over-fishing is to blame. Some insist recent herring declines are only cyclical in nature.
“You don’t have enough data about what goes on in the Chickahominy and the James to close the season,” Providence Forge businessman David Adams told the VMRC and ASMFC officials who hosted Monday’s hearing.
“There’s still a lot for you to look at before you take away something that’s been a tradition in our part of the state,” he added.
Some in the audience of about two-dozen implored officials to maintain the status quo.
“Leave the herring alone,” pleaded Charles City resident Cornelius Black.
But others adopted a more conciliatory approach to find some sort of middle ground.
New Kent resident Chris Williams recommended limiting the catch per day and “find a median where everyone can be happy.” Closing the season would be ridiculous, he added.
“Limit it for five or six years, record the data, and then revisit,” he urged. “Then you definitely need to do something about the catfish and rockfish. You definitely need new regulations, and you need to increase limits.”
Kate Taylor, the ASMFC fishery management plan coordinator, promised fishermen that all of their concerns and comments are being turned over to the organization’s management board for consideration in February.
Written public comment, however, is being accepted through Jan. 1. Comments can be addressed to Taylor at 1444 Eye St. NW, 6th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20005 or faxed to (202) 289-6051 or e-mailed at comments@asmfc.org (subject line: river herring).
Copies of the draft Amendment 2 are available by calling (202) 289-6400 or by visiting www.asmfc.org and clicking on Breaking News.