Protecting And Rebuilding River Herring And Shad

Earthjustice is challenging the National Marine Fisheries Service and fishery management councils in court over the failure to protect river herring and shad populations, which have crashed by over 90% since 1985 due to industrial overfishing and a lack of federal regulation under the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

• River herring populations, consisting of alewife and blueback herring, have experienced a decline of over 90 percent since 1985. These fish are described as foundations of the oceanic food chain and a critical component of the eastern seaboard’s coastal ecosystem, providing food for mammals, birds, and various fish.
• Earthjustice is pursuing legal action against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for failing to manage river herring and shad populations as 'stocks' under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. This act is intended to minimize bycatch, establish accountability measures and annual catch limits, rebuild depleted stocks, and end overfishing.
• The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council initiated Amendment 15 in June 2013 to recover fish populations by managing them as 'stocks' in the mackerel fishery, but the Council and federal agencies voted to cancel this recovery plan sixteen months later. Earthjustice is challenging this reversal in federal court.

APA

Earthjustice (2010). Protecting And Rebuilding River Herring And Shad. https://earthjustice.org/case/east-coast-river-herring-and-shad-protection-efforts-challenged

Chicago

Earthjustice. Protecting And Rebuilding River Herring And Shad. 2010. https://earthjustice.org/case/east-coast-river-herring-and-shad-protection-efforts-challenged.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Earthjustice |title=Protecting And Rebuilding River Herring And Shad |date=7 October 2010 |url=https://earthjustice.org/case/east-coast-river-herring-and-shad-protection-efforts-challenged |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{earthjustice2010protecting, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Protecting And Rebuilding River Herring And Shad}}, institution = {Earthjustice}, year = {2010}, month = oct, url = {https://earthjustice.org/case/east-coast-river-herring-and-shad-protection-efforts-challenged}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }