April 9, 2013 — The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection last week announced that the prohibition on the taking of alewives and blueback herring from most inland and marine waters in Connecticut has been extended for another year.
This action was initially taken in April 2002, and has been extended each successive year because there has been no improvement in population size during the past year. The prohibition is now extended through March 31.
“Despite the conservation efforts taken by this agency and others over the past decade, the runs of river herring in Connecticut are still diminished,” DEEP Deputy Commissioner Susan Whalen said in a news release. “The best available data from this past year indicates that the closure of these fisheries must therefore remain in place.”
During the past year, the New England Fisheries Management Council adopted new rules for commercial fishermen in the ocean to minimize river herring by-catch in the Atlantic herring fishery off the coast of northeastern states. A ruling by the National Marine Fisheries Service on whether to list both species of river herring under the federal Endangered Species Act was expected in 2012 but has now been delayed until 2013.
Read the full story at The Day