New Jersey Freshwater Herring Closure Information
OutdoorHub 02.16.12
The New Jersey Fish and Game Council, in coordination with the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council and the DEP Division of Fish and Wildlife, has modified the regulations for river herring in freshwater.
These changes,which are effective immediately, are necessary to comply with Amendment 2 of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Fisheries Management Plan for Shad and River Herring. Amendment 2 requires the closing of the recreational and commercial harvest of migratory river herring in the waters of a state that does not have an ASMFC approved river herring sustainable management plan. These closures are a result of significant coast wide declines of river herring stocks. New Jersey does not have sufficient information to determine if the State’s river herring stocks are sustainable.
Amendment 2 of the ASMFC plan applies to the state’s entire population of migratory herring in both marine and fresh waters.
For more information about the closure, including exceptions for landlocked herring populations, see http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/news/2012/herring_close.htm on the division’s website.
