May 2, 2019 — Interstate fishing managers have approved new protections for herring that they hope will help reverse an alarming trend in the fish’s population.
The Atlantic Herring Management Board, an arm of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. is implementing protections to help Atlantic herring. The schooling fish are important commercially and a key part of the ocean’s food chain. They’re also important as lobster bait.
The board says the changes mean the fishery will close in Area A1, the inshore Gulf of Maine, when a lower percentage, 25 percent to 20 percent, of the population of herring is spawning, and extending the closures from four weeks to six.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times