Harwich Opens Herring Run To Harvest

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 HARWICH – A traditional method of fish harvesting is returning to town after more than two decades. 

The select board Monday night approved regulations allowing for the harvest of herring at Johnson’s Flume in West Harwich. 

 This will be the first time the taking of herring has been allowed since a 2004 moratorium was put in place in Harwich in an effort to rejuvenate the anadromous fish stock that arrives from the ocean each spring to spawn in Harwich headwaters. The following year the state imposed a statewide moratorium on herring harvesting.

 Since then, stocks have improved to the point that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in 2022 began allowing communities to work with the state Division of Marine Fisheries to develop a sustainable fishery management plan allowing the taking of herring.

 As the first town to put a moratorium in place, Harwich recognized the need to protect dwindling herring stocks, said select board Chair Donald Howell. Harwich will also be the first town in the state to reopen the fishery to public harvest, he said. 

 “Other towns have been approved, but haven’t done it,” Division of Marine Fisheries Director Daniel J. McKiernan said. He thanked the board for considering the regulations, saying that his division has been waiting for such an opening.

 “We’ll learn from this,” McKiernan said.

 “We tried to do this last year, but we were waiting for the right person to take it on,” Howell said. Board members and staff agreed that Natural Resources Director Stephanie Ridenour, hired this past year, was the right person. She was praised for the detailed regulations she developed.

 “It’s well thought-out, well planned, and she can adjust it on the fly. That’s a testament to the plan,” said Town Administrator Jay McGrail.

 “Thank you, Stephanie, for bringing back a time-honored tradition,” added select board member Jeffrey Handler.

The permits for harvesting herring will go on sale on Saturday, April 4 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the natural resources department office at Saquatucket Harbor. Permits will also be sold at the office Mondays through Fridays. 

A cap has been set of 120 residential permits and 30 nonresident permits to limit the harvest, which will take place during a three-hour window on seven days this spring. No more than 20 fish will be allowed per permitholder on harvest days, which will be posted on the natural resources department website. Residents and taxpayers will pay $30 for a permit and nonresidents will pay $70. Senior residents and taxpayers will pay $15. A replacement fee is $5.

Johnson’s Flume, the location of the town’s fish ladder off Depot Street in West Harwich, is the only location in town where the harvest will be allowed. No other areas along the Herring River or the Skinequit Pond run will be open for harvest. All catches have to be recorded with natural resources department monitors, and Ridenour or a designee will be at Johnson’s Flume for the three-hour periods when harvest is allowed.

There are strict fines for anyone caught violating the harvest regulations. The state environmental police and the local police department will play a role in enforcement of the regulations. Those 16 years of age and older will have to have a permit to harvest, but younger folks can work the harvest as long as they are with a permitted adult.

A catch card will be used to register a permitholders’ harvest. It will include the permit number and the number of fish harvested. The card and fish must be presented to a herring warden or enforcement officer when requested. 

Susan Phillips of Orleans said she has been a herring counter in Orleans for a number of years. People value the spring tradition of going to the stream for food and bait, she said, calling the lifting of the moratorium and the pilot program a thoughtful one, especially the monitoring component. 

The select board unanimously approved Ridenour’s proposed regulations