July 12, 2022 — The New England Fishery Management Council covered three issues related to Atlantic herring when it met June 28-30, 2022 for a hybrid meeting in Portland, Maine.
SPECIFICATIONS: The Council received a brief update on 2023-2025 herring specifications, which are under development. The Herring Plan Development Team (PDT) is working on the action, and the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee will develop the overfishing limit (OFL) and acceptable biological catch (ABC) recommendations at an August 4, 2022 meeting. The annual catch limit (ACL), area-specific sub-ACLs, and other fishery specifications will flow from the ABC. The Herring Advisory Panel and Herring Committee will meet later this summer to review the specifications and recommend preferred alternatives for Council consideration. The Council will take final action during its September 27-29, 2022 meeting.
The specifications will be informed by the peer reviewed results of the June 2022 Herring Management Track Assessment, which was conducted immediately preceding the start of the Council meeting. Herring was last assessed in 2020 and was determined to be overfished, although overfishing was not occurring. Results from the new 2022 assessment are being finalized, but it does not appear the status of the resource has changed much from the previous assessment.