River Herring

A window of opportunity opens for Jersey’s Coastal Lakes

A window of opportunity opens for Jersey’s Coastal Lakes

Anglers Conservation Network / Coastal Lakes / Hurricane Sandy / New Jersey / News / Recreational Fishing / River Herring / Salt Water Fishing / Striped Bass
Posted by     March 12, 2013   

    Urban Coast Institutes Tony MacDonald addresses questions from the audience I attended a press conference held this afternoon by NJ state Senator Sean Kean to announce efforts to include restoration of our coastal lakes within the scope of work to be done for beach restoration and post Sandy shoreline mitigation. I have been working with the Coastal Lakes coalition for a couple of years at a normal pace meeting, planning and sharing ideas. Then Superstorm Sandy hit and drew immediate attention to the 15 or so coastal lakes that overflowed with stormwater and into surrounding neighborhoods. Our Coastal lakes became an overnight nightmare situation, as well as an ideal opportunity to get some well needed funding and work done. Many think that it was just the beachfront homes that took a direct hit. A few blocks in, it was another story. Just ask anybody that lives near one of the lakes in Belmar, Point Pleasant, Avon and others. Hundreds of residents took several feet of lake wa... Read More »

The Ocean’s talking. Is Anybody Listening?

The Ocean’s talking. Is Anybody Listening?

Anglers Conservation Network / Hurricane Sandy / New Jersey / News / Rec. Fishing Disaster Aid / Recreational Fishing / River Herring / Striped Bass
Posted by     January 17, 2013   

In my last blog I wrote about Hurricane Sandy and how it slammed into and opened up Wreck pond to the sea on October 29, 2012. Barely two months later, on December 27, 2012, a Noreaster hits and opens up a new inlet at Lake Takanassee in the same way (Above image), just a few miles to the North.  Local residents of the surrounding towns are not happy about the floods that came with this event, but they are happy because the new opening allows the floodwaters to rapidly retreat out to sea. Local Striper fishermen look at this destructive event from an entirely different perspective, and see a long awaited ray of hope. Finally, the vital species of forage fish that feed our striped bass and other gamefish will be able to enter these waters like they used to and spawn and multiply. I visited LakeTak, as locals call it, right after Sandy hit to see the damage it had done to the old US Life Saving station. Although the historic landmark was completely leveled, I found it amazing that, other... Read More »

RIVER HERRING RESCUE

RIVER HERRING RESCUE

River Herring
Posted by     December 7, 2012   

Summary River herring (alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus and blueback herring, A. aestivalis) stocks are in serious danger of total collapse.  Too many of these anadromous fish are caught as bycatch in other ocean fisheries and there are too many obstacles thwarting their attempts to migrate upstream to spawn.  River herring landings from directed commercial fisheries have declined 90% in the last two decades; this corresponds with an expansion of offshore fishing for Atlantic herring and Atlantic mackerel.  At the same time, a very significant percentage of mid-Atlantic streams present river herring with obstacles to their spawning. To halt the decline and begin rebuilding healthy river herring populations, aggressive and immediate management actions are necessary. A failure to act swiftly to control all sources of river herring mortality could result in another Atlantic species becoming commercially extinct.  The purpose of the River Herring Rescue program is to tackle one significant as... Read More »

SANDY CUTS WRECK POND RED TAPE LIKE BUTTER

SANDY CUTS WRECK POND RED TAPE LIKE BUTTER

Coastal Lakes / News / River Herring
Posted by     November 27, 2012   

Bruce Friedman of NJ DEP with concerned residents ACN attended the meeting of the Wreck Pond Regional regional stormwater management plan (RSWMP) last Monday late afternoon. It was a packed house and many attendees were local residents that were flooded out during this storm, as well as last years Irene storm. Just two weeks after super storm Sandy ripped a gaping hole out of the lakes dam, this emergency meeting was called. Sandy breached the dam where the pond meets the beach on the border between the towns of Spring Lake and Sea Girt. In addition to allowing the flooded neighborhoods to drain quickly during and right after the storm, this new inlet is currently allowing a tidal exchange to occur in a place that nature has been prevented from doing so since the 1930’s. The New Pipe- Before Sandy Instead of simply giving the green light to a bulldozer to backfill the dam and seal the pond back up, earlier the same day, it seems that a multitude of organizations were called in to... Read More »