When the annual spring herring run soon begins in Deal Lake, larger fish and waterfowl will enjoy a feast on this forage fish.
But there’s one species that won’t be so lucky.
Humans.
The state Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife has banned the harvesting of herring this year, following other states that are trying to conserve the stocks of the fish important in their role near the bottom of the food chain.
“The spring spawning run of river herring in Deal Lake, as well into other freshwater systems up and down the entire Atlantic coast, have been in severe decline,” said Mark Boriek, Principal Fisheries Biologist at the Division.
“As such, (New Jersey) has banned the catch and possession of river herring marine and freshwater. It is hoped that these bans will help the population recover.”
Still, fishermen benefit from the herring run. Large mouth bass in the lake feed on the herring, and it is an ideal time to catch those fish, said Stephen Souza, environmental consultant for the Deal Lake Commission.
Souza says the herring run dates back long before the modern era. Deal Lake was historically a tidal waterway, and it was only in the earlier part of last century that Ocean Avenue was built and cut the lake off from the ocean.
Today, an outfall pipe connecting the lake and sea is regulated by the Deal Lake flume, a sluice gate that can be raised or lowered to control the height of the lake.
At the right tidal moment, the herring charge through the flume en masse, heading to their ancestral spawning areas in the lake’s upper reaches, Souza said. The spawning run takes place in April and May.
Large groups of birds and people can often be seen at the Deal Lake flume on the eastern end of the lake – shown in the photo above – when the herring travel in or out of the waterway. The flume sits on the border of Asbury Park and Loch Arbour.
But humans better not let down any nets to land the fish. Click here and here for announcements from the state government banning the harvesting of herring.
Even the New York Times has taken note. Click here for a recent Times article explaining the importance of forage fish like herring in the food chain, and the damage commercial pressures to harvest them have caused to their stocks world-wide.
