Saturday, March 11, 2006

NC WRC Says No to River Herring Moratorium

First the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries declined to come to the aid of the severely overfished river herring, now it seems to be the NC Wildlife Resources Commission's turn. River herring have been under growing pressure of the last decade and have been fished way to hard to maintain a healthy population. As one of the foundations to the coastal food chain, depleted stocks of river herring cause strain on just about every other species. Rules now allow for possession of herring less than six inches in inland waterways. While this does allow fishermen to use live herring as bait for stripers, this decision is a major setback for the stock. The Coastal Conservation Association was also extremely critical of the decision and described it as "ludicrous". More on the river herring decision is available from the Outer Banks Sentinel.

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