Saving Seafood

Atlantic Herring Eastern Maine Spawning Closure in Effect Starting August 28, 2021 through October 9, 2021

August 23, 2021 — 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 Atlantic States Marine Fisheries 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 stages III-V, to trigger a spawning closure. However, if sufficient samples are not available then closures will begin on predetermined dates.

There are currently no samples from the Eastern Maine spawning area to determine spawning condition. Therefore, per Addendum II default closure dates, the Eastern Maine spawning area will be closed starting at 12:01 a.m. on August 28, 2021 extending through 11:59 p.m. on October 9, 2021. The Eastern Maine spawning area includes all waters bounded by the following coordinates:

Maine coast     68° 20’ W
43° 48’ N          68° 20’ W
44° 25’ N         67° 03’ W
North along the US/Canada border

Vessels in the directed Atlantic herring fishery cannot take, land or possess Atlantic herring caught within the Eastern Maine spawning area during this time. The incidental bycatch allowance of up to 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip per day applies to vessels in non-directed fisheries that are fishing within the Eastern Maine spawning area. In addition, all vessels traveling through the Eastern Maine spawning area must have all seine and mid-water trawl gear stowed.

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

The closure announcement can also be found at http://www.asmfc.org/files/AtlHerring/M21-98AtlHerring_EM_SpawningClosure_Aug2021.pdf

Maine herring area 1A shuts for two months

August 11, 2021 — With 92 percent of its seasonal allocation projected to have been landed, the inshore Gulf of Maine herring area 1A officially closed at midnight Aug. 3, with zero landing days until Sept. 30, according to Maine state officials and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

As prescribed in Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Herring, vessels participating in other fisheries may not possess more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip per day harvested from Area 1A.

In addition, all vessels traveling through Area 1A must have all seine and mid-water trawl gear stowed.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Herring fishing in Gulf of Maine to shut down for about 2 months

August 9, 2021 — Commercial fishing for herring will all but shut down in the inshore Gulf of Maine for about two months to help conserve the species.

Atlantic herring are an important bait fish that are harvested extensively off New England. The fishery has been limited by new restrictions in recent years because of concerns about the health of the fish’s population.

Interstate regulators said herring fishing will essentially be shut down in inshore areas off Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire until Sept. 30. They said that’s because fishermen are approaching their limits for the quota of the fish.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times

Atlantic Herring Area 1A Fishery Moves to Zero Landing Days for Season 1 on August 3, 2021

August 2, 2021 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) Atlantic herring fishery is projected to have harvested 92% of the Season 1 (June 1 – September 30) allocation by August 3, 2021. Beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, August 3, 2021, the Area 1A fishery will move to zero landing days through September 30, 2021, as specified in Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Herring.

Vessels participating in other fisheries may not possess more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip per day harvested from Area 1A. In addition, all vessels traveling through Area 1A must have all seine and mid-water trawl gear stowed.

Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts are expected to reconvene in September via conference call to set effort controls for the 2021 Area 1A fishery for Season 2 (October 1 – December 31). An announcement will be issued once the meeting is scheduled.

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

The announcement can be found athttp://www.asmfc.org/files/AtlHerring/AtlHerringSeason1ZeroLandings_08_2021.pdf

River herring, once eyed for endangered list, grow in counts

June 1, 2021 — A small fish that has been the subject of conservation efforts for years appears to be growing in number in the rivers of the East Coast.

River herring are critically important to coastal ecosystems because they serve as food for birds and larger fish. Regulators have described the fishes’ population as nearing historic lows because of dams, pollution, warming waters and other factors.

But years of effort to save them appear to be paying off. Preliminary counts of the fish from Maine to South Carolina in 2019 showed 2.7 million more fish than in 2015, according to documents provided by the regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The 2019 counts found more than 6.5 million fish.

The river herrings include two species of schooling fish, alewives and blueback herring, that have been fished in East Coast rivers for millennia. Harvesters of the fish said conservative management of the fishery in recent years, coupled with conservation efforts such as dam removal, have helped the fish spawn and grow in number.

“You’ve got to get the parents in the bedroom so the kids can go to school,” said Jeff Pierce, a longtime alewife fisherman and the president of Alewife Harvesters of Maine.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Restoring Habitat for Migratory Fish: A Look Back at the Recovery Act—Part 2

May 28, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, NOAA funded 125 habitat restoration projects in coastal areas throughout the country. Now, more than a decade later, we’re taking a look back at some of the projects we funded. We’ll explore the benefits this restoration work continues to bring to communities and ecosystems across the country. In Part 2 of this 3-part series, we’re highlighting examples of how Recovery Act projects have benefitted migratory fish.

Part 1 focused on community benefits like jobs and recreation. Part 3 will explore how Recovery Act-funded projects laid the groundwork for continuing habitat restoration efforts.

NOAA received $167 million from the Recovery Act to restore coastal habitat and help jumpstart the nation’s economy. We established 50 cooperative agreements that funded 125 high quality habitat restoration projects in 24 states and territories. They spanned from New England’s salt marshes to the coral reefs of the Pacific Islands.

On-the-ground projects funded through the Recovery Act restored more than 25,000 acres of habitat. They opened more than 670 miles of stream for fish and removed more than 433,000 tons of marine debris. This work provided much-needed habitat for commercial and recreational fisheries, and for threatened and endangered species.

Below, learn about two waterways where Recovery Act projects have benefitted important migratory fish species.

Read the full release here

Industry-Funded Monitoring Coverage in the Atlantic Herring Fishery Will Begin on July 1, 2021

May 14, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Beginning on July 1, 2021, NOAA Fisheries will begin selecting vessels with Category A or B herring permits fishing on declared herring trips for industry-funded monitoring (IFM) coverage. Vessels issued a Category A or B Atlantic herring permit will be required to secure and pay for at-sea monitoring coverage on trips that are selected for IFM coverage.

These vessels must log into their Pre-Trip Notification System (PTNS) web account to review the list of approved providers in PTNS and rank them in order of preference. Vessels should rank their providers in PTNS by June 20, 2021 to avoid any delays in the IFM assignment process.

For more information, go to our IFM website, which includes information on reporting requirements, approved IFM providers, the midwater trawl electronic monitoring exempted fishing permit, and other details.

Questions?

Fishermen: Contact Carrie Nordeen, Sustainable Fisheries, 978-281-9272

Media: Contact Allison Ferreira, Regional Office, 978-281-9103

MAINE: Years of tight herring quotas have lobstermen using new baits

May 10, 2021 — For decades, lobstermen have filled their bait bags with Atlantic herring, the small fish that plays a tremendous role in the food chain and is the preferred bait of Maine’s biggest fishery.   

“We’ve trained and raised our lobsters on it,” said James Hanscom, a Bar Harbor-based lobstermen who also sells bait. “It’s definitely the bait of choice.”  

But as quotas for Atlantic herring have tightened over the years, lobstermen and bait dealers have been forced to look elsewhere for other baits to lure in lobsters.  

Over the course of the last few years, the quotas on herring have been cut by 88 percent and the quota will drop again next year as the herring stock has been deemed overfished.   

“The demand is high, but the supply just isn’t there,” said Brittany Willis, a partner and general manager of JBR Maine, a wholesale bait and lobster company with locations in Gouldsboro and Winter Harbor.  

The problem is, while it’s considered overfished, Atlantic herring isn’t currently being overfished, leaving officials scratching their heads on what’s preventing the species from thriving.   

For the past seven or eight years, there’s been little to no “recruitment,” or new baby herring, in the fishery, said Emily Gilbert, who supervises the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s herring team.   

Without young herring being added to the mix, the stock hasn’t been able to recover.  

Herring are found on the Atlantic coast from Canada to Virginia. Catch in the U.S. peaked in 1986 around 1.05 billion pounds. By the 2000s, landings held stable at about 250 million pounds but since dropped to 39 million pounds in 2019.   

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Atlantic Herring Area 1A 2021 Effort Controls

April 23, 2021 — 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 set the effort control measures for the 2021 Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery for June 1 – September 30.

The Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (ACL) is 1,453 metric tons (mt) after adjusting for the carryover from 2019, the 30 mt fixed gear set-aside, and the fact that Area 1A closes at 92% of the sub-ACL. In October 2020, the Board established the following seasonal allocations for the 2021 Area 1A sub-ACL: 72.8% available for season 1 (June 1 – September 30) and 27.2% available for season 2 (October 1 – December 31).

Days Out of the Fishery

  • Landing days will be set at zero from June 1 until the start of the fishery on June 13 at 6:00 p.m.
  • Vessels with an Atlantic herring Limited Access Category A permit that have declared into the Area 1A fishery may land herring five (5) consecutive days a week. 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.
  • Landing days begin on Sunday of each week at 6:00 p.m. starting June 13.

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 June 13.

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.

Fishermen are prohibited from landing more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip from Area 1A until June 13, 2021 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 is projected to be reached.

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

The announcement can also be found at http://www.asmfc.org/files/AtlHerring/AtlHerring2021Area1A_DaysOutMeasures_Aprl2021.pdf

NEFMC Provides Guidance on Actions to Rebuild Herring Stock, Consider Spawning Protection on Georges Bank

April 23, 2021 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council received a progress report during its April 13-15, 2021 webinar meeting on two evolving framework adjustments to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan. The Council discussed both actions and provided feedback to guide the Herring Plan Development Team (PDT), Herring Committee, and Herring Advisory Panel (AP) on the work these groups will continue to conduct in the months ahead.

FRAMEWORK ADJUSTMENT 9 – This framework includes two components:

  • Measures to rebuild the Atlantic herring resource; and
  • Measures to potentially adjust accountability measures (AMs) in the fishery.

Read the full release here