Augusta - Efforts to restore and improve up and downstream passage for sea-run fish species on five Maine water bodies have provided several Maine towns with the opportunity to have a commercial river herring harvest.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) American Shad and River Herring Management Board has approved commercial fishing opportunities for alewife and blueback herring, collectively known as river herring, on Sewall Pond, Wight Pond, the Pennamaquan River, Chemo pond and Pushaw Lake.
River herring are anadromous (sea-run) fish that spend most of their life at sea but return to freshwater to spawn. They are important to the ecology of freshwater, estuarine, and marine environments and provide important economic opportunity for towns which lease the right to fish to harvesters, and for the commercial harvesters who sell river herring for lobster bait.
To be approved for a new commercial river herring fishery, states are required to submit a Sustainable Fishery Management Plan (SFMP) to ASMFC that outlines management goals, objectives, and actions that will support and expand existing river herring resources in each watershed. Maine’s SFMP was presented to the Board for consideration during its October 2024 meeting.
Under state law, Maine towns that currently have harvest rights must submit both a record of the town’s vote to approve a fishery and a harvest plan to the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) each year to maintain the exclusive right to harvest on a water body that has been approved by ASMFC.
For new fishing opportunities on water bodies approved by ASMFC a town must petition the Commissioner to be awarded the exclusive right to harvest river herring. If approved by DMR, towns are authorized to either conduct the fishery, or to sell harvest rights to an individual through a bidding process.
Because they had approved river herring fisheries from DMR prior to a 2012 ASMFC moratorium, the towns of Arrowsic, Penobscot, and Pembroke will be able to begin harvesting fish this year; Arrowsic on Sewall Pond, Penobscot on Wight Pond, and Pembroke on the Pennamaquan River.
Municipalities near Chemo Pond and Pushaw Lake will have an opportunity to submit a petition and harvest plan to DMR by April 20, 2025, for the right to establish a commercial fishery on those water bodies in 2026.
Efforts in Maine to improve and restore sea-run fish passage have been instrumental in establishing the new river herring fisheries.
“Restoration, monitoring, and cooperative partnership with organizations like the Alewife Harvesters of Maine and with municipalities have all helped to continue to grow and expand alewife and blueback herring populations in Maine,” said Michael Brown of the Maine Department of Marine Resources. “Without the cooperation and dedication of those interested in the continued recovery of these species, the addition of these fisheries would not be possible.”
Through local efforts to improve passage and support river herring restoration activities, the river herring run into Sewall Pond has grown. The largest improvement occurred in 2014 with the installation of a state-of-the-art fishway under Route 127 which crosses the outlet of Sewall Pond.
Fishway improvements on the Pennamaquan River in Pembroke have improved passage into spawning habitat for alewives, and the river herring population has responded positively, with continued returns continuing to increase.
The town of Penobscot replaced a dam on Wight Pond with an improved fishway in 2017 which has resulted in an annual alewife count that has more than doubled since the dam removal.
Fishway installations at the outlet dams of Pushaw Lake and Chemo Pond have improved passage in both water bodies.
“This is a success story for Maine river herring and Maine communities,” said Jeff Pierce, Executive Director of the Alewife Harvesters of Maine (AHOM). “We’re very pleased with this ASMFC decision, and excited to bring as many river herring runs online as possible.”