Are herring endangered?
Posted by The Highliner Posted: September 17, 2007 – 12:22 pm A loyal reader alerted The Highliner to this surprising item: A petition has been filed to list the Lynn Canal population of Pacific herring as threatened or endangered. Click here to read a notice from the National Marine Fisheries Service. The Juneau office of the Sierra Club filed the petition on April 2, the notice says. “After review, we find that the petition presents substantial scientific and commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted,” the notice says. Lynn Canal is a 90-mile fjord running from Juneau north to Haines. The petitioner asks that Lynn Canal herring be designated a “distinct population segment,” and be listed as threatened or endangered. The Lynn Canal spawning biomass has declined about 85 percent since the 1970s, and the commercial fishery has been closed since 1982. Such petitions are not unprecedented. Efforts to designate the Puget Sound and Cherry Point herring st
