Amendment 8 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan
Summary
NOAA Fisheries is implementing Amendment 8 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan. The New England Fishery Management Council developed Amendment 8 to specify a long-term acceptable biological catch control rule for Atlantic herring and address localized depletion and user group conflict. This amendment establishes an acceptable biological catch control rule that accounts for herring’s role in the ecosystem and prohibits midwater trawling in inshore federal waters from the U.S./Canada border to the Rhode Island/Connecticut border. Amendment 8 is intended to support sustainable management of the herring resource and help ensure that herring is available to minimize possible detrimental biological impacts on predators of herring and associated socioeconomic impacts on other user groups.