April 28, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (Commission) Atlantic Herring Section members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts set the “days out” effort control measures for the 2016 Area 1A Trimester 2 (June 1 – September 30) as follows:
· June 1 – 30: Vessels may land herring three (3) consecutive days a week.All other days are designated as “days out” of the fishery (e.g., vessels may not land herring).
· July 1 – 14: Vessels may land herring four (4) consecutive days a week. All other days are designated as “days out” of the fishery.
· July 15 – September 30: Vessels may land herring five (5) consecutive days a week until further notice. All other days are designated as “days out” of the fishery.
Landing days in New Hampshire and Massachusetts begin on Monday of each week at 12:01 a.m. Landings days in Maine begin on Sunday of each week at 6:00 p.m.
The initial Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (ACL) is 30,397 metric tons (mt) after adjusting for a carryover from 2014. The Area 1A sub-ACL will be adjusted after the final rule for the 2016-2018 herring specifications is released. The final 2016 Area 1A sub-ACL will include the following reductions: 8% bycatch, 3% research set-aside and 295 mt fixed gear set-aside. The Section allocated 72.8% of the sub-ACL to Trimester 2.
By starting with three landings days per week and then adjusting to four and then five days during Trimester 2, the allocation is projected to extend through the end of the trimester. Landings will be monitored closely and the directed fishery will be adjusted to zero landing days when the trimester’s allocation is projected to be reached. The Atlantic Herring Section members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts are scheduled to reconvene via conference call to review fishing effort and adjust landing days as necessary on the following day:
· Monday, July 11 at 10:00 AM
To join the call, please dial 888.394.8197 and enter passcode 499811 as prompted.
Fishermen are prohibited from landing more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip from Area 1A until June 1, 2016. Please contact Ashton Harp at 703.842.0740 for more information.