If Webster’s dictionary wanted to illustrate the definition of “procrastination” or “foot-dragging,” it could publish a photo of the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission. The MFC met Sept. 28 to consider the River Herring Fishery Management Plan, and couldn’t break a deadlock because one commissioner was out of the country. The MFC decided to delay a vote.
But the real question is why in heaven’s name does a senseless deadlock still exist? River herring are extremely lacking in N.C. waters, say Division of Marine Fisheries and Wildlife Commission biologists who’ve studied the problem. These staff biologists have said an immediate moratorium needs to be placed on herring harvests and kept in place for 16 to 26 years just to create a chance to recover to sustainable (reproducing) levels.
But some DMF commissioners who represent commercial-fishing interests still don’t seem to be listening.
DMF/WRC biologists have observed plummeting river herring stocks for years. Arguments exist about the cause (polluted waters and upstream dams are two reasons often cited; ironically, some observers believe N.C.’s rejuvenated striped bass population helped reduce river herring numbers). Still, it should be clear to anyone that added pressure on river herrings isn’t needed. Delays in action appear to be the same old foot-dragging.
So opposed to change is the MFC that N.C.’s annual river herring catch quota remains at 300,000 pounds — a number that’s been in place since 2000, when herring stocks were in free fall.
Are river herrings an important species? Well, some people believe they keep other parts of the saltwater cycle of life in balance. For sure, they exist in nature for a reason. If stripers could talk, they’d probably agree.
Some recreational anglers believe stripers, in the absence of once-plentiful herrings, have turned to other species — particularly perch, other panfish, bass, even catfish — to satisfy their appetites.
The N.C. Wildlife Commission continues to stock largemouth bass fingerlings in brackish-water streams in northeastern N.C. in an attempt to rebuild largemouth populations that crashed after hurricanes caused massive die-offs. But annual samplings reveal few bass are surviving. Could WRC hatcheries be raising bass that are becoming striper snacks because river herrings aren’t available?
The recently-delayed MFC decision isn’t another nail in the herrings’ coffin — yet. The fish won’t return to eastern rivers and streams until the spring during their annual spawning migration.
But delays such as the MFC’s latest continue to send the wrong message to the angling public, not to mention the agency is in violation of the 1997 Fisheries Reform Act that requires creating rules that will rebuild depressed fish stocks within 10 years.
To his credit, soon-to-retire DMF director Preston Pate has said he will place “new rules” on herring harvest by proclamation. But new rules, including a harvest ban, are long overdue.
The real shame is the MFC could have taken action decades ago when biologists first saw herring stocks start to crash — but some agenda-driven members consistently have ignored the problem while paying attention to the demands of a few herring netters.
Now anglers and N.C.’s river herrings are paying the price.
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