Atlantic Herring Fishery 2019 Specifications and River Herring and Shad Catch Caps

We used an in-season adjustment to reduced 2018 Atlantic herring specifications and sub-annual catch limits (ACLs) for 2019 to prevent overfishing and lower the risk of the Atlantic herring stock becoming overfished. All other Atlantic herring specifications, including river herring and shad catch caps, remain unchanged from 2018.

The 2018 Atlantic herring stock assessment concluded that while Atlantic herring was not overfished and overfishing was not occurring in 2017, Atlantic herring catch would need to be reduced to prevent overfishing and lower the risk of the stock becoming overfished.

 The New England Fishery Management Council requested we use an in-season adjustment to reduce 2018 Atlantic herring catch limits for 2019. We published a proposed rule in November 2018. The herring acceptable biological catch we proposed for 2019, as well as the resulting ACL and sub-ACLs, while consistent with methods used to set recent specifications, were higher than catch limits recommended by the Council.

At its December 2018 meeting, the Council reviewed our proposed Atlantic herring catch limits for 2019 and recommended that we further reduce herring catch limits to achieve conservation and management objectives. We work closely with the Council for sustainable management of New England fisheries. The Council develops harvest policies for its fisheries and we tend to defer harvest policy decisions to the Council, unless those policies are inconsistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act or other applicable law.

We reduced the 2018 Atlantic herring specifications and sub-ACLs for 2019 to achieve conservation and management objectives, consistent with the Council’s recommendations, Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan objectives, and other Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan provisions.

River herring and shad catch caps for 2019 remain unchanged for 2019.