Historically, the small, bony fish were a food source for settlers, as well as a source of fertilizer for farmers. More recently, herring have become prized as bait for striped bass, although some still do eat the roe, or female egg mass, of the herring. And a few may smoke the fish, or pickle it, both traditional ways of preparation. Reback said that except for the Pilgrim Lake run in Truro, which has not been active for several years, each town has its own set of regulations. These stipulate which runs are open or closed, whether people need a local shellfish license to take fish, days and hours fish may be taken, and the daily and season maximum number of fish which may be taken.
State regulations apply in the absence of local controls.
In fact, people who think they are helping the fish reach their destination are more likely to injure or kill the herring. Already exhausted by their effort to return to their spawning ground, these fish can be stressed even more by being handled. And a thin, protective mucus coating on their scales can be rubbed off by unnecessary handling. That, coupled with scale loss, can make the fish susceptible to freshwater fungus infections and other ailments. They are not a hardy fish for handling, said Phillips Brady, a marine fisheries biologist with the state's Division of Marine Fisheries.