Among all the awe-inspiring phenomena of the natural world, the immense spawning runs of alewife and blueback herring along the Atlantic Coast ranks highly.
Not long ago, these platinum, big-eyed fish poured into estuaries and up rivers in such overwhelming numbers that, to the human eye or imagination, a river might seem to run backward, for an instant. Collectively known as โriver herring,โ they fed Native Americans and early settlersโand they still nurture our ecosystems. Not only are they fundamental to both marine and freshwater food webs as prey species, but those fish that die after spawning also fertilize their natal streams, much like salmon.
Unfortunately, after centuries of overfishing, dam construction, water pollution and other harmsโwhich now increasingly includes the effects of global warmingโthe annual pulses of river herring have slowed to a relative trickle. And thereโs concern that they could disappear entirely in the future. So today NRDC is submitting a petition to the federal government to list the alewife and blueback herring as โthreatenedโ species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Read the complete story from NRDC.