The females release as many as 250,000 of their eggs in shoreline areas where the male fertilizes them. Upon spawning, the adults return to the offshore areas for overwintering. The newly hatched fish remain in the lower riverline area for several months before moving to sea. Like the American shad, South Carolina's blueback herring range long distances before returning to the river where they were spawned. These travels take them all the way to Nova Scotia and back.
Blueback herring are an important part of South Carolina's sport and commercial fisheries.
Commercial fisheries exist for them primarily in the Cooper and Santee Rivers, where further upstream migration is blocked by a dam. Commercial fishermen harvest a limited amount for dead bait markets, live bait markets, and for a small amount of human consumption. Blueback herring serve as an important food source for striped bass and other predators in the Santee Cooper Lake system. Navigation locks at Pinopolis Dam once moved large numbers of adult herring into the Lake each spring. A fishlift installed at the St. Stephen Power House, built as part of the rediversion project, functions to pass blueback herring and American shad into the Lake from the Santee River.