Vibrant Wildlife
As recently as 40 years ago, millions of river herring and menhaden swam through the Sound’s coastal rivers, attracting schools of blue fish, striped bass, other large fish, and an array of birds. Now Long Island Sound’s forage fish number only a few hundred thousand. Without strong stocks of smaller fish, big fish will not thrive in our waters.
Restoring our fisheries is a two-part task:
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First, we must remove dams and barriers that prevent fish from traveling upriver to breeding waters.
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Second, we need strong, sensible management practices that regulate fishing and allow stocks to rebuild from the bottom of the food web to the top.
Habitat Restoration
We have Long Island Sound’s most experienced restoration team. No other organization on the Sound has over 30 years of direct engineering and construction management experience. Since 2002, we’ve completed over 20 projects and restored hundreds of river miles and dozens of marsh acres. And we have more on the way! With your support, we can re-open more rivers and marshes so more fish have even greater access to inland breeding areas. Learn more about our Habitat Restoration projects here.
Fisheries Management
Because fish swim across all state borders, the best ways to protect them are at federal and regional levels, specifically with the re-authorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. We know that by protecting the critical habitat fish need and opening up rivers for migration, we can bring back the great abundance Long Island Sound once knew.
Join us on the Herring Alliance and make your voice heard! By linking with hundreds of conservation and angler groups from Georgia to Maine, we can protect forage fish like herring and menhaden, help restore thriving stocks of larger game fish like cod, and boost recreational and commercial fishing opportunities!
Fishermen, recreational or commercial, are often deeply passionate about conserving and properly managing the water resources they enjoy or making their living on. We look for ways to sustainably grow our fishing industries and bring a new generation of watermen to the conservation discussion.
River Herring or Alewife by Duke University