On May 19, 2008, Riverkeeper submitted comments to the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Hudson River Fisheries Unit supporting the proposed rulemaking which would make permanent the Emergency American Shad Restrictions announced on March 14, 2008. In its letter, Riverkeeper applauded the DEC for acting quickly to enact the emergency regulations which placed restrictions on commercial fishing, including limits on certain types of fishing gear and on times and places where fishing is allowed. The DEC also implemented a catch-and-release-only season for recreational shad fishing.

Riverkeeper restated its recommendations submitted to the DEC in comments on January 31. Both sets of comments urge the agency to protect Hudson River shad by addressing all causes of their decline including habitat loss, offshore bycatch, power plants, and the commercial and recreational fisheries, while preserving the skills and culture of the Hudson River’s traditional commercial shad fishery which has existed since Dutch settlers arrived in the New World. Riverkeeper's comments emphasized that placing restrictions on the commercial and recreational fisheries without resolving each and every one of the threats to American shad, would force New York State’s historic shad fishery into extinction, while failing to honestly address the causes of the population’s decline.

Riverkeeper's comments called on the DEC to:

• Continue to monitor the health of the Hudson River’s shad population and regularly evaluate whether the restrictions on commercial and recreational fishing are sufficient to ensure the species’ recovery;

• Seek funding and support from the New York Ocean and Great Lakes Ecosystem Conservation Council to fund shad study and restoration efforts;

• Dedicate funding to further study reasons for the decline of Hudson River American shad, including funding to monitor and restore lost shad spawning grounds and to continue the Hudson River Estuary Monitoring Program;

• Lead the fight to ensure that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) strictly regulates directed-fisheries such as the Delaware Bay, which catch Hudson River shad;

• Ban ocean bycatch of American shad in state waters, lobby neighboring states to ensure that bycatch of American shad is not legalized, and dedicate funding to study where ocean bycatch is occurring in order to enforce a ban on such bycatch; and finally,

• Mandate the installation of at least closed-cycle cooling at every Hudson River power plant and ensure that existing permit requirements are strengthened

On January 28, 2008, Riverkeeper also submitted public comments on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Public Information Document (PID) for an amendment to the coast-wide management plan for river herring; another of the Hudson River’s declining signature species. Riverkeeper called on the ASMFC, of which New York State is a member, to implement aggressive management policies to protect river herring on a coastwide basis. In the coming year, ASMFC will release a draft amendment to the herring management plan based on the comments it received on the PID. Riverkeeper will continue to watch ASMFC as the amendment process continues, to ensure that river herring is properly managed to protect this important species.