there are a few streams off the ct. river in central ct. that get packed with herring every year. we used to see them at night. they are still there but you can't take herring with a genuine ct. sh#ting license. there are more herring than eels.
correction, that was 69 striped bass over Holyoke Dam last year, and 647 herring... still an ongoing near extinction event for upper Connecticut River herring, a 99.9% drop from the mid 1980s half million alewives per year..
That is all that made it to the lift (647 herring). I seen many thousands of them last year while shad fishing and have noticed a steady increase over the past few years. The reason they aren't making it to the dam is, there is one deep hole a few hundred feet from the lift. In that hole are many large striped bass waiting for them! We would see schools go by (upstream) and a few minutes later they are going back downstream in fear of their life. This goes on all day long. What they need to do is go out and do a survey on the water and not use the lift numbers as a stock assessment. Just because 647 herring made it over the dam doesn't mean the river isn't loaded with herring, because it is!
Many herring may hold up in that hole, I have no doubt that is true. But it does not change the fact that the river herring picture is a complete train wreck. Populations into the river are at epic lows. That is the reality.
In the 1980's and early 90's 300,000 would cross the dam every year.Now we see 1000 as an improvement. . . . .
I'm not saying it is fishing in the river driving this decline. Its not, but this is the spawning ground and the regional population is in total chaos.
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.. still an ongoing near extinction event for upper Connecticut River herring, a 99.9% drop from the mid 1980s half million alewives per year..
Yup
""Happy Talk" . . . . . Because it has worked so well thus far"
"It is not necessary to change; survival is not mandatory" - Edward Deming
"Unless we start to focus everything on this, our targets will soon be out of reach" - Greta Thunberg January 2020
"I spent most of my dough on booze, broads and boats and the rest I wasted" - Elmore Leonard.
Team Man Made Climate Change is Real.
"Such change demands on our part a serious and responsible recognition not only of the kind of world we may be leaving to our children, but also to the millions of people living under a system which has overlooked them" - Pope Francis September 2015
how much does all the sewerage dumped into the ct. river just over our northern border every time it rains effect all types of fish in the river? i wouldn't want to swim there either.
how much does all the sewerage dumped into the ct. river just over our northern border every time it rains effect all types of fish in the river? i wouldn't want to swim there either.
Not as much as you think. There was a lot more sewage and pollution dumping into the rivers back in the haydays when you "could walk across the herring in the river". Hundreds of millions of dollars have been put into eliminating those discharges - there is more work to do but our environment and our waters are so much cleaner than back in the day.
I believe that commercial fishing efficiencies over time along with the restoration of predators (seals, striped bass, cormorants, eagles, ospreys, etc) are to blame. Spend an hour watching river cormorants eat - its amazing how much they catch and consume. There has been a man moratorium for a long time (maybe ten years now) and there hasn't been much change (don't know if its considered statistically insignificant - like the salmon effort). The increases in herring populations here in CT probably have more to do with the State's efforts to restore the population by transplanting fish than the man moratorium. They say it takes four years for the fry that make it out to sea to return and spawn, so you figure the first four or five years of the effort have little return on investment. Now is the time when we would be reaping the investment. Maybe the relaxation of regulation proves that. Still haven't heard for sure that the moratorium is over. If the moratorium is over and the population crashes further, I guess we will know that man is at fault.
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#1624085 - 03/13/1505:43 PM
Re: New Regs question
[Re: jonh]
Paul D.
Lifetime Member
Registered: 04/15/02
Posts: 13067
Loc: South Central, CT
"Striped bass predation in the Connecticut River is a significant source of mortality for adult blueback herring. River herring represent a significant portion of striped bass dietsin the Connecticut River during May – June, and striped bass congregate in locationswhere they are successful in capturing herring. The estimated seasonal consumption of river herring is substantial; it far exceeds the number of herring that are passed at theHolyoke fish lift, and is comparable to the number that passed in years before a sharpdecline in the early 1990’s"
Glad someone looked this aspect of the situation. The findings need to be at least tripled to take into account the other 2/3 s of the river below the study area. Thanks for putting this up Todd! If the bass are indeed in a decline we should start to see a bit of resurgence in the forage numbers, but it will take some time. With the lack of bass in the river, the chances of man made over harvest for bait reasons is highly unlikely as there is really nothing to fish for in the river with them. If you look at the tables the decline in river herring began just after the last striped bass moratorium was ended, that in itself should be seen suspicious.
#1624099 - 03/13/1506:00 PM
Re: New Regs question
[Re: MikeG]
cat_in_the_hat
Member
Registered: 04/16/04
Posts: 2293
Loc: Tolland CT
Maybe Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station running for the last 40 years had nothing (or something) to do with the herring decline. The plant just shut down the end of 2014, so the river will now be cooler during spawning.
Maybe it was a vodo curse, or Tommy knockers, or global warming, big foot, mountain lion or.....Aliens. Ya just never know.
Originally Posted By: jonh
Originally Posted By: Bone-Head
how much does all the sewerage dumped into the ct. river just over our northern border every time it rains effect all types of fish in the river? i wouldn't want to swim there either.
Not as much as you think. There was a lot more sewage and pollution dumping into the rivers back in the haydays when you "could walk across the herring in the river". Hundreds of millions of dollars have been put into eliminating those discharges - there is more work to do but our environment and our waters are so much cleaner than back in the day.
I believe that commercial fishing efficiencies over time along with the restoration of predators (seals, striped bass, cormorants, eagles, ospreys, etc) are to blame.
IMO the core reason has been the commercial fishing efficiencies - scanning sonar, mid water trawl percision etc. . . .
The crash in dam crossing numbers matches very closely the crash in commercial landings. IMO there were 15 years of unsustainable harvest and we are paying the price now.
""Happy Talk" . . . . . Because it has worked so well thus far"
"It is not necessary to change; survival is not mandatory" - Edward Deming
"Unless we start to focus everything on this, our targets will soon be out of reach" - Greta Thunberg January 2020
"I spent most of my dough on booze, broads and boats and the rest I wasted" - Elmore Leonard.
Team Man Made Climate Change is Real.
"Such change demands on our part a serious and responsible recognition not only of the kind of world we may be leaving to our children, but also to the millions of people living under a system which has overlooked them" - Pope Francis September 2015
#1624145 - 03/13/1509:03 PM
Re: New Regs question
[Re: swwind]
Paul D.
Lifetime Member
Registered: 04/15/02
Posts: 13067
Loc: South Central, CT
SW, please post those stats if you have easy access to them . It was my understanding , and I could be mistaken, that most of the commercial landings (in the us) were Atlantic Herring which are not anadromous.
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