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Concern has been increasing over the impacts of incidental catches of river herring (Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus and Blueback Herring A. aestivalis) in commercial fisheries for Atlantic Herring Clupea harengus and Atlantic Mackerel Scomber scombrus, but historical information on mixed-species catches and their driving factors is lacking. We examined data from spring and fall bottom trawl surveys (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Northeast Fisheries Science Center) for temporal trends in overlap and potential ecosystem drivers of overlap trends. Species overlap changed substantially over time, with changes varying by season and region of the northeastern U.S. continental shelf. In the fall, changes in overlap were positively related to abundance in Georges Bank and southern New England. In the spring, most changes in species overlap were positively related to increasing species abundances. Positive relationships between overlap and abundance suggested that as species distributions increased with abundance, distributional overlap with other species increased as well. During the fall, changes in species overlap were positively related to bottom temperature in the Gulf of Maine, whereas in the spring, the relationship with bottom temperature was less consistent. Temperature-related changes in overlap implied that species distributions changed at different rates in response to climatic changes, thus leading to changes in overlap. Our findings suggest that fisheries management should take an adaptive approach to managing incidental catches by using region- and season-specific policies and should incorporate the effects of species abundances and climate change on species interactions. Received September 28, 2015; accepted October 11, 2016

In a 2013 pilot study, acoustic tags were inserted into two species of river herring, Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus and Blueback Herring Alosa aestivalis. The primary objectives were to identify han...

Native to the central USA, the Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus and the Flathead Catfish Pylodictis olivaris have been widely introduced into many Atlantic slope rivers and are now found in several drainages of the Chesapeake Bay. Fisheries managers are concerned that these large, long-lived catfish species may be contributing to observed declines in anadromous species, such as the American Shad Alosa sapidissima, Blueback Herring A. aestivalis, and Alewife A. pseudoharengus, all of which once comprised major U.S. fisheries. We assessed spatiotemporal variability and selectivity in the diets of Blue Catfish and Flathead Catfish during the spawning migration of these alosines. Catfish stomachs were collected during March–May in nontidal freshwater, tidal freshwater, oligohaline, and mesohaline portions of the James River. Diet contents were extracted from 2,495 catfish, 69.86% of which had prey items present in their foreguts (N = 1,743). We used DNA barcoding to identify degraded fish prey; nearly ...

We estimated the variation in the instantaneous rates of growth and mortality between cohorts of larval alewife Alosa pseudoharengus and blueback herring A. aestivalis in the Tar–Pamlico River, Pamlico Sound, North Carolina. The age of larvae captured by push net was estimated by counting the daily rings on sagittal otoliths. Weight-at-age and abundance-at-age data were used to generate instantaneous daily growth (G) and mortality rates (M) for 7-d cohorts. The instantaneous daily growth rate was relatively constant between cohorts, ranging from 0.103 to 0.277 for alewives and from 0.105 to 0.200 for blueback herring. The instantaneous daily mortality rate was more variable between cohorts, ranging from 0.064 to 0.270 for alewives and from 0.100 to 0.251 for blueback herring. All but one blueback herring cohort had an M/G value exceeding 1.0, indicating that these cohorts were losing biomass during the early larval stage. For alewives, M/G values were more variable, with 50% of the cohorts having...

Zooplankton composition and abundances were quantified in the lower Roanoke River and Albemarle Sound, North Carolina. The spatial and temporal overlap between larval alosines, including American shad Alosa sapidissima, river herring (alewife A. pseudoharengus and blueback herring A. aestivalis), hickory shad A. mediocris, and zooplankton were examined to determine whether larval alosines in this system are food limited. Samples were collected weekly at 19 stations from March through June 2008–2009 in three habitats: River, Delta, and Sound. Spatial differences in zooplankton were observed, with the abundance in the Sound (16,546 ± 14,678 [number/m3 ± SD]) being significantly higher than those in the River (4,934 ± 3,806) and Delta areas (4,647 ± 2,846). Zooplankton composition was dominated by Daphniidae, Bosminidae, calanoid and cyclopoid copepods, copepod nauplii, and rotifers. The spatial patterns in alosine abundance were the opposite of those for zooplankton, being highest in the River (21....

A standard dual-frequency identification sonar (DIDSON) was deployed in the Herring River, Harwich, Massachusetts, for 3 d in late April 2011 to capture video-like images of migrating adult river herring (alewife Alosa pseudoharengus and blueback herring Alosa aestivalis). Images recorded 24 h a day were used to manually count and assign species based on DIDSON images of fish size, shape, and behavior. From these counts, the run size was estimated to be 1,976–2,059 individuals during the study. At first, river herring often hesitated to swim through the sample area where the weirs and DIDSON were deployed; however, they eventually did pass, often multiple times. This unique hesitation behavior complicated counting efforts, though it was beneficial to discerning species using DIDSON images. In addition, extremely shallow water upstream of the study site, lack of tree cover, and a high threat of avian predation likely contributed to river herring milling activity at the study site. By providing man...

Over the past two decades, declines in the populations of river herring (alewife Alosa pseudoharengus and blueback herring Alosa aestivalis) have been documented across both species’ ranges. Information concerning the natal origins of spawning adult fish could aid in their restoration but has been unattainable. We investigated the efficacy of otolith microchemistry for identifying the natal environment of alewife and blueback herring in Connecticut. In both 2008 and 2009, water and juvenile and adult fish were sampled from 10 sites across the state. The relationships between water and otolith Sr:Ca ratios differed for alewives and blueback herring, necessitating the development of separate classification models for assigning individuals to capture locations. Reclassification of age-0 alewives to their site of origin was variable (50–100%) but demonstrated that age-0 fish could be accurately reclassified to their natal environment at some sites. Discriminant function reclassification rates to site...

Anadromous blueback herring Alosa aestivalis are declining throughout much of their range, and fishery closures in some systems have failed to produce population recovery. A potential contributing factor is increased predation pressure from sympatric striped bass Morone saxatilis. We integrated data on the predator–prey interaction between striped bass and blueback herring during vernal migrations into the Connecticut River with data on the in-river striped bass fishery to assess the potential for mitigation of blueback herring mortality via increased striped bass harvest. Striped bass abundance, size structure, diets, and angler catches were assessed within a river segment during spring 2005–2008. We estimate that striped bass consumed 400,000 blueback herring (90% confidence interval = 200,000–800,000) annually in our study area during the spring migration season. The predator–prey interaction between striped bass and blueback herring was predator size dependent. Blueback herring were most comm...

The American shad Alosa sapidissima once ranked among the top two or three commercial fisheries in the United States and was rated among the choicest fish to eat (Blackford 1916). It was one of the first North American species to be artificially propagated (Clift 1872) and was introduced into numerous water bodies (see Hasselman et al. 2012 for a history of its transfer to West Coast waters). Similarly, its congeners, the alewife A. pseudoharengus and blueback herring A. aestivalis (together known as river herring), constituted important commercial and subsistence fisheries during the first several hundred years following the appearance of Europeans in North America. The early colonists marveled at the sheer abundance of these fish in American waters, especially the massive spawning migrations of anadromous herrings. Coastwide, American shad ran in the tens of millions and river herring probably numbered in the hundreds ofmillions or billions into the early nineteenth century. Over the next two centuries, the all too familiar threesome of overfishing, habitat loss, and pollution decimated populations (Limburg and Waldman 2009). Today, fisheries are closed in many states to allow stocks to rebuild, and river herring are listed as a species of concern under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (as of this writing, they are under consideration for listing as threatened). There is renewed interest in these long marginalized fish, as managers and researchers begin to understand their ecological, cultural, and economic importance and advocate for ways to restore their abundance. This was evidenced at a 2-d symposium held at the 140th Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society in Pittsburgh. Sufficient interest was generated to produce this special section of 16 articles. We thank our coeditors, namely, Kristin Miller, Anthony Overton, and John Waldman, as well asMarine and Coastal Fisheries editor-in-chief Donald Noakes and journals production coordinator Laura Hendee. We would also like to acknowledge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Northeast Region, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Resources Office, for its generous sponsorship of the publication. We dedicate this special section to the memory of two special biologists: Joseph Loesch and John Olney. Both scientists at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences (VIMS), Joe passed away in June 2009 and John died an untimely death in January 2010. Both headed up VIMS’s Anadromous Fish Program during their careers. Joe and John made fundamental contributions to the scientific understanding of blueback herring andAmerican shad, respectively.We know they would be proud to see this collection of articles.