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River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

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Page 1: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

River Herring: Status and Threats Overview

Karin E. Limburg

SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Page 2: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Outline of today’s talk:

• A bit of river herring biology and ecology

• A look at r.h. in the past

• The present situation

Page 3: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Two separate herring species in the subfamily Alosinae – blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis) and alewife (A. pseudoharengus)

Closely related – capable of hybridizing

Anadromous – spawn in fresh waters in spring

Migrate to sea to grow and mature – largely a “big black box” at present

Broad geographic ranges

Biology & Ecology

Page 4: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

NYS Canal Authority

River Herring in New York State

Page 5: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Part of the lock and canal system on the Mohawk River (NYS Barge Canal). Every time the locks open and close, there are opportunities for fish passage.

Page 6: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

River herring composed vast fisheries up and down coast (C. Hall will talk about Maine)

NMFS

Page 7: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

River Herring Landings in U.S., 1880-2010

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Me

tric

To

ns

State and US fishery statistics

Page 8: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

River herring landings since 1950

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Ha

rve

sts,

MT

/yr

Alew ife

Blueback herring

Attempting to parse out by species

Page 9: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Former strong links betw. inland and marine productivity

Today, these links are greatly diminished

Page 10: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Current consensus – coast-wide stock assessment completed spring 2012 for ASMFC

Page 11: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Source: ASMFC

Page 12: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

• 57 “Systems” on Atlantic coast– 9 categories of FI

&FD data

• 54% are blank• Only 26% of

remaining have “good” or complete (green) data– Most occurs in NE

states

State River By species Harvest Age Length Weight Repeat Spawner FI Adult FI JAI FD CPUEDamariscotta ●St. George ●Union ●Orland ●Androscoggin ● ● ●Sebasticook ● ● ●Merrymeeting Bay/Tribs ● ● ●Gulf of Maine ● ● ●Exeter/Squamscott ● ● ● ● ●Lamprey ● ● ● ● ●Winnicut ● ● ● ● ●Oyster ● ● ● ● ●Cocheco ● ● ● ● ●Taylor ● ● ● ● ●Great Bay Estuary x x xMattapoisett ● ● ●Monument ● ● ●Nemasket ● ●

Parker ● ● ●Town ● ●Agawam ●

Back ● ● ● ● ●Charles ● ● ● ● ● ●Mystic ● ● ● ● ●Quashnet ● ● ● ● ●Stony Brook ●

Gilbert Stuart ● ● ● ● ●

Nonquit ● ● ● ● ●

Buckeye Brook ●Pawcatuck x x x x ●Ocean waters ● ● ●Naragansett Bay ● ● ●Coastal ponds ● ● ●Bride Brook ● ●Connecticut River ● ●

Farmington River ● ●Thames River ● ●

NY Hudson ● ● ● ● ●

Delaware River

Delaware Bay

Nanticoke

Susquehanna xChesapeake Bay

MD, VA, DC Potomac River ●

James ●

Rappahannock ●

York ●

Albemarle Sound ●Chowan River ● ● ● ● ● ●Wynah Bay xSantee-Cooper ● x ●Savannah River xAshley-Combahee-Edisto Basin xAltamaha River xOgeechee River xSavannah River x

FL St. Mary's River

VA

NC

SC

GA

ME

NH

MA

RI

DE, NJ, PA

MD

CT

From the stock assessment report:

River herring Stock Assessment Subcommittee (SASC)

Page 13: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1887

1890

1893

1896

1899

1902

1905

1908

1911

1914

1917

1920

1923

1926

1929

1932

1935

1938

1941

1944

1947

1950

1953

1956

1959

1962

1965

1968

1971

1974

1977

1980

1983

1986

1989

1992

1995

1998

2001

2004

2007

2010

ME NH MA RI CT NY NJ DE MD PRFC VA NC SC

US Landings by State

SC

NC

MDME

SASC

Page 14: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

-

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

1960

1962

1964

1966

1968

1970

1972

1974

1976

1978

1980

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Repo

rted

Lan

ding

s (T

hous

ands

of

MT)

USA Foreign Fleets

SASC

Reported NAFO landings – large foreign fleet catches in late ’60s – early ’70s

Page 15: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Stock assessment looked into current sources of mortality for r.h.

For some time, bycatch (incidental catch) in marine fisheries has been suspected to be a large problem…SASC did 1st thorough assessment

Photo: Stephen McGowan, Marine PhotoBank

Page 16: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Bycatch evaluation

Incidental vs Inland Catches

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Met

ric T

ons

Blueback

Alewife

Inland both spp

Page 17: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Alewife size distributions

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

BT

MWT

NH Inland

Blueback herring

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

Fre

que

ncy

Fork length (mm)

Alewife size distributions

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

Alewife size distributions

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

BT

MWT

NH Inland

BT

MWT

NH Inland

Blueback herring

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

Blueback herring

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

Fre

que

ncy

Fork length (mm)

Page 18: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Relative abundance data

(size of the spawning runs) -

A mixed bag. Depends in part on length of dataset. Trends most clear in longer data sets.

Page 19: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Mean size of adults, size at age, and amount of repeat spawning is going down

Page 20: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Also from the stock assessment report:• mortality rates are higher

than most stocks can support

• directed fisheries exploitation rates are little to none

• therefore, something else is going on (e.g., bycatch, watershed impacts)

Page 21: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Recommendations from the stock assessment (some of many)

• Determine impacts of bycatch:

• Determine “who” is getting caught in bycatch

• Determine which stocks are vulnerable to mixed stock fisheries

• Reduce mortality!

• Monitor success of river restoration efforts

• Improve understanding of juvenile requirements

Page 22: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

River herring distinct population segments

Data: E. Palkovacs, E. Argo, D. Hasselman

Page 23: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Complementary project under-way – river herring stock discrimination in NYS and rest

of coast

Carll’s River

Carman’s RiverBig Fresh Pond

Peconic River

Coxsackie (rkm 201)

Newburgh (rkm 96)

Peeble’s Isl, (Mohawk mouth, rkm 240)

Sponsored by HRF, thank you!

Page 24: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Water

-1.0

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

-1.00 -0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00

Re-scaled Canonical Variate 1 (64.5%)

Re-

sca

led

Can

onic

al V

aria

te 2

(34

.9%

)Lower HR 2009

Lower HR 2010

Upper HR 2009

Upper HR 2010

Tribs 2009

Tribs 2010

LI 2009

LI 2010

87/86Sr

d18O

Ba:Ca

Sr:Ca

1 mm

Mn:Ca

Page 25: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Conowingo Dam(Susquehanna)

Holyoke Dam (CT River)

Watershed impacts: dams

Small dam on Quassaick Creek

Page 26: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

2000

Maps (top left, clockwise): Dittman et al. unpub.; Hall et al. 2010; Swaney et al. 2006; damsafety.org; Wikipedia

Page 27: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Merrimack R.

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1st to last dam

1st to 2nd dam

Connecticut R.

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Susquehanna

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Pas

sag

e ef

fici

ency

bet

wee

n d

ams

Passage efficiency from sea to upstream spawning grounds is not good…

Brown et al. in revision.

Stats for American shad.

And where shad cannot go, neither can river herring…unless they’re trucked

Page 28: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Urbanization and sprawl growth

Watershed impacts:

Page 29: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

1988: Studied 16 tribs, in 4 “reaches” of the estuary: 1st to 9th order

Page 30: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

2009: Growth and condition of YOY alewives reduced by urbanized watersheds (R. Monteiro et al. in

revision)

Page 31: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing process

Initiated by the NRDC

3 workshops this past summer

Decision will be made later this fall or early next year.

Page 32: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

? !!

Page 33: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

This project feeds into a larger project that combines genetic markers of r.h. coast-wide and oto. chem. to ID fish in marine bycatch (“who’s getting caught”)

Page 34: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Habitat needs…

Page 35: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Habitat Restoration, passage

Page 36: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

• River herring down around historic lows – is this a critical point? Is depensation occurring?

• Efforts really needed to re-build biomass

• this means we need to reduce mortality and increase recruitment – need to address both marine and inland concerns

Take-homes:

Page 37: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

The End!

Alewives

Page 38: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Hybrids found at sea

(NMFS fall trawl survey 2011)

Alewife-blueback

(“ale-back”)

Shad-blueback??

(“shad-back”)

Page 39: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY
Page 40: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Monument River (MA)

Mea

n T

otal

Len

gth

(mm

)

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

MaleFemale

Alewife

Hudson River (NY)

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

MaleFemale

Nanticoke River (MD)

Year

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010200

220

240

260

280

300

320

MaleFemale

Chowan River (NC)

Year

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010200

220

240

260

280

300

320

MaleFemale

Androscoggin River (ME)

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

340

MaleFemale

Cocheco River (NH)

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

340

MaleFemale

Exeter River (NH)

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

MaleFemale

Lamprey River (NH)

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

MaleFemale

Winnicut River (NH)

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

MaleFemale M

ean

Tot

al L

engt

h (m

m)

Stony Brook (MA)

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

Sexes Combined

Monument River (MA)

Mea

n T

otal

Len

gth

(mm

)

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

MaleFemale

Hudson River (NY)

Mea

n T

otal

Len

gth

(mm

)

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

MaleFemale

Nanticoke River (MD)

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

MaleFemale

Chowan River (NC)

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

MaleFemale

Santee-Cooper (SC)

Year

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010200

220

240

260

280

300

320

Male (Cast net)Female (Cast net)Male (Fishlift)Female (Fishlift)

St. John's River (FL)

Year

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010200

220

240

260

280

300

320

MaleFemale

Blueback

Cocheco River (NH)

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

340

MaleFemale

Oyster River (NH)

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

340

MaleFemale

Winnicut River (NH)

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

MaleFemale

***

***

***

*** **

** **

***

*** *

SASC

Page 41: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Group 1

Group 2

Year

No

rma

lize

d R

un

Co

un

t

-10

12

1985 1995 2005

Gilbert_Ale

-10

12

3

1985 1995 2005

Monument_Ale

Year

No

rma

lize

d R

un

Co

un

t

-10

12

1985 1995 2005

Cocheco_Both-1

01

21985 1995 2005

Oyster_Both

1984-2010

SASC

Page 42: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Group 3

Year

No

rma

lized

Ru

n C

ou

nt

-10

12

1985 1995 2005

Androscoggin_Ale

-10

12

1985 1995 2005

Damariscotta_Ale

-10

12

1985 1995 2005

Lamprey_Both

1984-2010

Group 4

Year

No

rma

lize

d R

un

Co

un

t

-10

12

3

1985 1995 2005

Union_Ale

-10

12

1985 1995 2005

Monument_BB

-10

12

1985 1995 2005

Taylor_Both

01

2

1985 1995 2005

Connecticut_BB

SASC

Page 43: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Probably due to gregarious behavior as well as use of small systems for spawning, river herring are not as genetically distinct as shad or salmon

Page 44: River Herring: Status and Threats Overview Karin E. Limburg SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Syracuse, NY

YOY alewife otolith from an urbanized Cape Cod watershed (Herring Brook) subject to seasonal hypoxia – with no escape…

1 mm

Alewife EAS-60, Cape Cod

0

2

4

6

8

10

0 25 50 75 100 125

Age (days)

Dai

ly in

crem

ent

w

idth

s, m

icro

ns

0.00

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

Mn:

Ca

x 1

000

Increments

Mn:Ca x 1000

5-pt moving avg of growth

Limburg, unpub. data