November 4, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts met November 4 via webinar to consider changes to days out measures for the 2021 Area 1A fishery for Season 2 (October through December) following the reallocation of 1,000 metric tons (mt) from the management uncertainty buffer to the Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (sub-ACL) based on catch information from the New Brunswick weir fishery.
The Area 1A fishery will move to four (4) consecutive landing days per week starting November 8 at 12:01 a.m. Fishing for and possessing herring onboard prior to November 8 is allowed in accordance with published state regulations.
Estimates indicate approximately 1,083 mt of the Area 1A sub-ACL remains available to harvest, which accounts for the increase of 1,000 mt based on catch information from the New Brunswick weir fishery, the overage from Season 1 (June through September), the 30 mt fixed gear set-aside, and the 8% buffer (Area 1A closes at 92% of the sub-ACL).
Please contact Emilie Franke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at efranke@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740 for more information.
The announcement can also be found at http://www.asmfc.org/files/AtlHerring/ChangestoAtlHerringDaysOutSeason2_11_4.pdf