Saving Seafood

Atlantic Herring Area 1A Start Date Remains July 19, 2026 at 6:00 p.m.

July 17, 2026 — 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 via webinar on July 17 to discuss the start date for the 2026 Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery. The Board members previously set the start date for July 19 at 6:00 p.m. as part of days out measures discussed in April 2026 (press release here). The additional meeting was scheduled after some industry members reported a significant increase in bait from the menhaden fishery and imported bait from the Canadian weir fishery on the market. As a result, there are some concerns about the possibility of a surplus of bait at the dock, lack of storage capacity for herring, a crash of the bait market, and general waste if the fishery were to open on July 19. However, not all members of industry expressed those concerns and noted that there are markets for bait. In addition, those industry members expressed that changing the start date at the last minute would cause hardships because crews were already lined up and vessels are prepared to begin fishing on July 19.

Given the lack of consensus among industry and only two days until the original start date, the Board maintained the July 19 start date with landing days starting at 6:00 p.m. this Sunday, July 19.

The effort control measures set in April 2026 are unchanged.

Days Out of the Fishery

  • Landing days will be set at zero (0) from June 1 until the start of the fishery on Sunday, July 19, 2026 at 6:00 p.m.
  • Landing days begin on Sunday of each week at 6:00 p.m. starting Sunday, July 19.
  • Vessels with an Atlantic herring Limited Access Category A permit that have declared into the Area 1A fishery may land herring five consecutive days a week. The week shall begin at 6:00 p.m. on Sundays and conclude at 6:00 p.m. on Fridays. One landing per 24-hour period. Vessels are prohibited from landing or possessing herring caught from Area 1A during a day out of the fishery.
  • Small mesh bottom trawl vessels with an Atlantic herring Limited Access Category C or Open Access D permit that have declared into the fishery may land herring six consecutive days a week. The week shall begin at 6:00 p.m. on Sundays and conclude at 6:00 p.m. on Saturdays.

Weekly Landing Limit

  • Vessels with an Atlantic herring Category A permit may harvest up to 240,000 lbs. (6 trucks) per harvester vessel, per week starting Sunday, July 19, 2026 at 6:00 p.m.

At-Sea Transfer and Carrier Restrictions

The following applies to harvester vessels with an Atlantic herring Category A permit and carrier vessels landing herring caught in Area 1A to a Maine, New Hampshire, or Massachusetts port.

  • A harvester vessel may transfer herring at-sea to another harvester vessel.
  • A harvester vessel may not make any at-sea transfers to a carrier vessel.
  • Carrier vessels may not receive at-sea transfers from a harvester vessel.

Harvesters are prohibited from landing more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip from Area 1A until July 19, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. Landings will be closely monitored and the fishery will be adjusted to zero landing days when the Season 1 quota of 1,748 metric tons is projected to be reached.

For more information, please contact Emilie Franke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at efranke@asmfoc.org or 703.842.0740.

The press release can also be found at https://asmfc.org/news/press-releases/atlantic-herring-area-1a-start-date-remains-july-19-2026-at-600-p-m/

 

The Atlantic Herring Area fishery regulations include seasonal spawning closures for portions of state and federal waters in parts of Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire

October 26, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic Herring Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery regulations include seasonal spawning closures for portions of state and federal waters in Eastern Maine, Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire.

Samples from the Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area indicate a significant number of spawning herring, defined as 25% or more mature herring by number in a sample that have yet to spawn. As a result, the Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area will re-close for two additional weeks, starting at 12:00 a.m. on October 29, 2017 and extending through 11:59 p.m. on November 11, 2017. Vessels in the directed Atlantic herring fishery cannot take, land or possess Atlantic herring caught within the Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area during this time and must have all fishing gear stowed when transiting through the area. An incidental bycatch allowance of up to 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip/ calendar day applies to vessels in non-directed fisheries that are fishing within the Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area.

The Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning area includes all waters bounded by the Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine coasts, and 43° 30’ N and 70° 00’ W.

For more information, please contact Toni Kerns, ISFMP Director, at tkerns@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

To learn more visit their website at asmfc.org.

 

MASSACHUSETTS: ‘We’re not dying yet. But …’

January 8, 2016 —  Gerry O’Neill looks at the water world spinning around him, a world of regulation and re-regulation and over-regulation — in other words, the modern world of commercial fishing — and thinks that he’s seen this movie before.

Two days removed from the public comment hearing at the state Division of Marine Fisheries offices on Emerson Street on potential changes to rules governing the scope and the schedule of the herring season, O’Neill sits in his office on Jodrey State Fish Pier and wonders if his two 141-foot mid-water trawlers Challenger and Endeavour and the Cape Seafood fish processing and sales operations that collectively employ almost 40 full-time workers — and even more when the product is flowing — will survive the future any better than the nearly decimated Gloucester groundfish fleet.

“At the end of the day, the groundfishermen are struggling and everybody knows that and it’s because of over-regulation as well,” O’Neill said. “We’re not dying yet. But if they keep doing what they’re doing, we’re going to go the same way as the groundfishermen.”

Given the state of the groundfish fleet, that is a chilling phrase, made even more-so by his matter-of-fact delivery in the soft brogue of his native Ireland and his admission that he favors regulations that will sustain the fishery even when they cost him fish and money.

Fishery not broken

His voice was steady and calm, just as it was at Tuesday’s session in which David Pierce, the executive director of DMF and the state’s representative on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission which governs the Northeast herring fishery, conceded the fishery remains robust.

“The stock remains rebuilt and over-fishing is not occurring,” Pierce told the approximately 20 stakeholders that attended. “The mortality seems to be under control and the stock appears to be in a good shape.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times