aid.
Responding to the concerns of many conservation groups that are worried that the fish are being harvested offshore, Massachusetts fisheries managers and lawmakers are looking to put in new measures to monitor that catch by inspecting landings at the dock.
That legislation is written into the environmental bond bill which is being reviewed at the State House now. A key section gives the state Division of Marine Fisheries funds to hire staff to be at the docks when forage fish are being landed.
Tom Rudolph, of the Cape Cod Hook Fishermen’s Association, is pushing hard to get government fisheries managers to look at the offshore impact on the survival of herring.
“There is tons of anecdotal and lots of empirical evidence that suggest that river herring are being caught offshore by midwater trawlers with large nets,” Mr. Rudolph said.
Last year the midwater trawlers were kicked out of the waters of Gulf of Maine because of concerns they were having a detrimental impact on the rich fishing grounds.
“They are the largest fishing vessels in New England,” Mr. Rudolph said. “They range in size from 100 to 165 feet in length with nets that measure the length of a football field and have the width of a soccer field. Their mesh is graduated in size and can catch fish four inches in length. It is well known that these fishing boats have a big bycatch.”
Now those fishing boats, numbering at least 30, can fish with little restriction in the federal waters from here south.
“There is no real comprehensive monitoring when these fishing boats come in to offload 500,000 to 1 million pounds of fish at a time,” Mr. Rudolph said.
Vineyarders are irritated over why the herring haven’t rebounded, given that fishermen are prohibited from catching what was once a local staple product in spring.
Paul Bagnall, shellfish constable for Edgartown, said: “The state and federal fisheries managers have to get down and figure out what is happening here. I am not seeing the return as we’d like.”
Bret Stearns, natural resource director for the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah, has some faith in the future of herring, at least in Vineyard waters.
“The run is certainly less than what it was years ago but it is abundant enough to sustain the fishery,” Mr. Stearns said of the tribe’s Aquinnah run. “Last year we saw a terrific yield of herring fry. They flooded the waters around Dogfish Bar, Menemsha Pond and off Noman’s Land. There were huge schools of herring fry out there.”
“I think we are doing our part, which is the best we can do,” Mr. Stearns said.