The newest Atlantic herring stock assessment showed aside from overfishing, the species is not rebounding as fast as it can and river herring are not fairing much better.
Connecticut River blueback herring runs have plummeted from highs of 630,000 fish in 1985 to 283 in 2022.
Kevin Job, fisheries scientist for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said even though catch caps are low, too many fish are being caught.
"Our concern here in Connecticut is that a really good year for us right now, some of our runs have a thousand fish," Job explained. "If we combine all of our runs on a good year, we're talking a few hundred thousand fish statewide but the fishery is allowed to take millions each year."
