Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries Announces Atlantic Herring Management Area 1A Sub-ACL Harvested

November 26, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

We are implementing a 2,000-lb herring possession limit per trip or calendar day as of 00:01 hours on November 27, 2019. This possession limit will be in effect through December 31, 2019. Under the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan, when 92 percent of the Herring Management Area 1A catch limit is projected to be harvested, no person may, or attempt to, fish for, possess, transfer, receive, land, or sell more than 2,000 lb of herring per trip or per calendar day in or from Area 1A for the remainder of the fishing year from a vessel issued and holding a valid federal herring permit.

This action also prohibits federally permitted dealers from purchasing, possessing, receiving, selling, bartering, trading or transferring, or attempting to purchase, possess, receive, sell, barter, trade, or transfer more than 2,000 lb of herring per trip or calendar day from Management Area 1A through 24:00 hr local time, December 31, 2019, unless it is from a vessel that enters port before 00:01 local time on November 27, 2019.

For the seasonal period from January 1, 2020, through May 31, 2020, there is no Area 1A allocation available, and no vessel may fish for herring in Area 1A under current regulations. Vessels are expected to be able to resume herring fishing in Area 1A on June 1, 2020.

For more information read the rule filed today in the Federal Register or the bulletin.

Read the full release here

MASSACHUSETTES: Cape fishermen celebrate new trawling restrictions

November 26, 2019 — In 2002, when Peter Baker first voiced his opposition to the large herring trawlers towing even larger nets off the beaches of Cape Cod, he didn’t think it would take 17 years to get a ban on what he and others saw as a return to the industrialized fishing that had wiped out New England herring, mackerel and menhaden in the 1970s before the U.S. pushed the foreign fleet 200 miles offshore in 1976.

Last week, the efforts of local fishermen, boards of selectmen, voters, environmental groups and state legislators who spoke out against the midwater trawl herring fishery finally paid off with a federal restriction on large herring vessels fishing within 12 miles of the coast from the Canadian border to Connecticut, and within 20 miles of shore along the Outer Cape coastline south to the waters off Martha’s Vineyard.

“This is the culmination of a decade and a half of hard work,” said Baker, who is the director of marine conservation work in New England and Atlantic Canada for the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

MAINE: Goodbye herring, hello squid: Fishermen’s catch likely to change in warming Gulf of Maine

November 8, 2019 — In a warmer future, Maine fishermen will probably be catching squid or mackerel, not cod or herring.

They will probably have to travel farther and fine-tune their gear to catch the cold-water species that remain in the Gulf of Maine, like lobster and sea scallops, and be ready to fish the new species that will be calling a warmer Gulf of Maine home by then, like black sea bass.

“We face some challenges moving forward that will require adaptation to maintain our vibrant fisheries,” Katherine Mills, a research scientist at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, said in an address Thursday, the fourth day of the five-day Gulf of Maine 2050 Symposium in Portland.

Mills gave the audience a peek at work that GMRI scientists and economists are doing to explore how New England fishing communities will be affected by rising sea temperatures in the Gulf of Maine, which is warming three to four times faster than the rest of the world’s oceans. The Gulf is expected to warm by 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2055.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Atlantic Herring Spawning Re-Closure for Western Maine in Effect November 6 through November 19, 2019

November 5, 2019 — 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. The Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board approved a forecasting method that relies upon at least three samples, each containing at least 25 female herring in gonadal states III-V, to trigger a spawning closure. A spawning closure can be extended for two additional weeks if one sample taken from within a spawning closure area indicates a significant number of spawn herring.

The Western Maine spawning area will be re-closed starting at 12:01 a.m. on November 6 extending through 11:59 p.m. on November 19, 2019. One sample of herring was collected and analysis of the sample indicated 20% mature herring had yet to spawn.

Vessels in the directed Atlantic herring fishery cannot take, land, or possess Atlantic herring caught in the Western Maine 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 Western Maine spawning area. Information on the location of the spawning area is included in the below coordinates and the figure on the next page.

Read the full release here

Revised Effort Controls for the Atlantic Herring Area 1A Fishery in Period 4

October 24, 2019 — 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 revised effort control measures for the 2019 Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery for period 4 (November and December). The Area 1A fishery will remain at zero landing days for the remainder of October as the period 3 quota has been met.

For period 4, the Area 1A fishery will move to one landing day per week starting at 6:00 p.m. on November 3 for Maine and 12:01 a.m. on November 4 for Massachusetts and New Hampshire, contingent upon a notice by NOAA Fisheries that the Area 1A sub-ACL has been adjusted. As outlined in the Atlantic herring specifications, if the New Brunswick weir fishery catch through October 1 is less than 4,000 mt, then 1,000 mt will be subtracted from the management uncertainty buffer and added to the Area 1A sub-ACL. NOAA Fisheries is currently evaluating landings data from the New Brunswick weir fishery and will make a determination in the coming weeks. If a notice by NOAA Fisheries has not been issued by 10 a.m. on October 31, the fishery will remain at zero landings until the transfer has occurred. Upon notification from NOAA Fisheries, the fishery will move to one landing day per week with a Sunday/Monday start date based on the timing of the announcement. In order to provide states enough time to notify stakeholders, the notice from NOAA Fisheries must be posted by 10 a.m. on Thursday for the fishery to move to one landing day the subsequent Sunday/Monday.

Period 4 landings will be closely monitored and the directed fishery in Area 1A will close when 92% of the sub-ACL is projected to be reached, or when 95% of the ACL for the stock-wide fishery is projected to be reached. Fishermen are prohibited from landing more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip on days out of the fishery.

Please note the Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning areas remain closed through 11:59 p.m. on November 3 (vessels cannot take, land, or possess Atlantic herring during spawning closures).

For more information, please contact Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, atkrootes-murdy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

A PDF of the announcement can be found here – http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/5db1e21bAtlHerringDaysOutRevisedSpecifications_Oct2019.pdf

ASMFC 78th Annual Meeting Supplemental Materials Now Available

October 23, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Supplemental materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 78th Annual Meeting are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2019-annual-meeting for the following Boards/Committees (click on “Supplemental” following each relevant committee header to access the information). For ease of access, all Board meeting supplemental materials have been combined into one PDF – http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/78AnnualMeeting/78thAnnualMeetingCombinedSupplementalMaterials.pdf. Not included in the combined document are supplemental materials for the Executive Committee and the Atlantic Striped Bass Board; materials for both of which can be found at their committee headers.

Atlantic Herring Management Board – Correspondence to NOAA & ASMFC Regarding Herring Quota and Law Enforcement Violation

American Lobster Management Board – Lobster/Jonah Crab Reporting Requirements

Tautog Management Board – Update on Implementation of the Commercial Harvest Tagging Program

Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership Steering Committee – Action Items

Atlantic Menhaden Management Board – Public Comment

Management and Science Committee – Revised Draft Agenda

Horseshoe Crab Management Board – Draft Fishery Management Plan Review

American Eel Management Board – Draft Fishery Management Plan Review

Weakfish Management Board – Draft Fishery Management Plan Review

Executive Committee – Revised Agenda and FY19 Audit

Habitat Committee – Aquaculture Impacts to Fisheries; Acoustic Impacts on Atlantic Fisheries Production

Shad and River Herring Management Board – Public Comment

Coastal Sharks Management Board – Draft Fishery Management Plan Review

Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board – Advisory Panel Recommendations; Law Enforcement Committee Review; Technical Committee Criteria for Conservation Equivalency with Addendum VI; Public Comment Summary and Submitted Comment on Draft Addendum VI

ISFMP Policy Board – Revised Draft Agenda and Meeting Overview; Habitat Management Series: Aquaculture Impacts to Fish Habitats along the Atlantic Coast

South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board – Draft Addendum III to Amendment 1 to the FMP for Atlantic Croaker; Draft Addendum III to the Omnibus Amendment to the FMP for Spanish Mackerel, Spot, and Spotted Seatrout; Draft Fishery Management Plan Reviews for Black Drum and Spotted Seatrout; Public Comment

As a reminder, Board meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning Monday, October 28th at 8:30 a.m. and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 12:15 p.m.) on Thursday, October 31st. The webinar will allow registrants to listen to board deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur. No comments or questions will be accepted via the webinar. Should technical difficulties arise while streaming the broadcast the boards/sections will continue their deliberations without interruption. We will attempt to resume the broadcast as soon as possible.

New England council closes in on new herring limits

October 4, 2019 — Years of debate over New England herring are culminating in new fishing limits and an inshore midwater trawl restricted area to reduce user conflicts.

With an Oct. 21 deadline for public comment, fishing and environmental groups are pushing for NMFS approval of Amendment 8 to the New England Fishery Management Council’s herring plan.

If approved by the agency, Amendment 8 would prohibit the use of midwater trawl gear inshore of the 12-mile territorial sea limit, from the Maine-Canada border south to the border of Rhode Island and Connecticut. Off eastern Cape Cod, the restricted area would bump out to 20 miles, within 30-minute squares 114 and 99.

John Pappalardo, CEO of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance that pushed hard for the changes, said the future impact is uncertain.

“The first and most obvious thing is what we won’t see: the lights of midwater trawlers, factory boats working in pairs, wiping out schools of forage fish like herring close to shore,” Pappalardo wrote in the association’s Sept. 25 newsletter.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NEFMC Initiates Framework for Atlantic Herring Offshore Spawning Protection

September 24, 2019 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council has initiated a framework adjustment to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan to develop options to protect spawning herring in offshore waters.

One of the Council’s 2019 priorities was to consider offshore spawning protection for Atlantic herring on Georges Bank. In order to facilitate this work, the Council issued a contract to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) to review both historical and current scientific research, as well as other relevant information and previous management actions for spawning herring.

Read the full release here

3 charged with breaking herring fishing laws in Maine

September 20, 2019 — The Maine Marine Patrol says it has cited three men for violating laws designed to protect an economically important species of fish.

The laws protect Atlantic herring, a bait fish that has been the subject of deep fishing quota cuts in recent years. The marine patrol says it has charged fishing boat captain Glenn Robbins of Eliot with exceeding the weekly limit of 160,000 pounds of herring and failing to file accurate reports.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Atlantic Herring Days Out Call Information and Notice of Spawning Closures for Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire in Effect September 23 through November 3, 2019

September 18, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts set effort control measures for the Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery via Days Out meetings/calls. These members are scheduled to convene via conference call on October 2nd from 9:30 to 11:30 AM to consider fishery specifications for Quota Period 4. The details of the call are as follows:

Meeting webinar: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/239062933

Join the conference call:

Phone: 1.888.585.9008

Passcode: 853-657-937

Spawning Closures

The Atlantic Herring Area 1A fishery regulations include seasonal spawning closures for portions of state and federal waters in Eastern Maine, Western Maine, and Massachusetts/New Hampshire. The Atlantic Herring Management Board approved a forecasting method that relies upon at least three samples, each containing at least 25 female herring in gonadal states III-V, to trigger a spawning closure. However, if sufficient samples are not available then closures will begin on predetermined dates.

Read the full release here