With support from officials, a group of residents will get out their shovels and widen a channel between James Pond and Vineyard Sound.

Longstanding efforts to widen a historic herring run and improve circulation in James Pond are gaining momentum. The 50-acre pond is tucked along the north shore of West Tisbury.

The ocean may still be as blue as it was in January, but there is a new fragrance that goes with a warming ocean. Is it too soon to think of a bluefish blitz at Wasque?

The New England Fishery Management Council voted Thursday to limit the number of river herring and shad incidently caught by trawlers in federal waters. The cap is the latest in a series of state and federal measures underway to protect the species of fish, whose populations are at historic lows.

There is a lot more to cheer about on the waterfront this spring when it comes to recreational fishing than a year ago. The fish are here and the list of species is long.

Atlantic mackerel showed up in April. This is a fish we call precious today, although decades ago it was a common spring fish.

In an uncommon gesture toward Island fishermen, the state Marine Fisheries Commission brought its monthly business meeting to the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven yesterday afternoon. Beneath the large Stanley Murphy mural paintings of fishing life on the Vineyard, the commission tackled topics that affect the lives of local and state commercial fishermen, such as extending the striped bass fishing season and attempts to resuscitate the ailing herring population.