NOAA Fisheries seeks comments on proposed 2025-2027 Atlantic herring specifications, consistent with recommendations by the New England Fishery Management Council. This action proposes new 2025 and projected 2026-2027 specifications for the Atlantic herring fishery. This action also proposes maintaining current river herring and shad catch caps for the Atlantic herring fishery for 2025, projecting those current catch caps for 2026-2027, and revising the target rebuilding date for Atlantic herring from 2028 to 2031. This action is necessary to respond to updated scientific information from a 2024 management track assessment and to achieve the goals and objectives of the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan, including preventing overfishing, helping rebuild an overfished stock, and achieving optimum yield on a continuing basis.
2025-2027 Atlantic Herring Specifications.
| Specifications | New (mt) | Projected (mt) | |
| 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | |
| Overfishing Limit | 20,802 | 23,491 | 31,075 |
| Acceptable Biological Catch | 8,587 | 13,165 | 13,165 |
| Management Uncertainty | 4,031 | 4,031 | 4,031 |
| Annual Catch Limit/Optimum Yield | 4,556 | 9,134 | 9,134 |
| Domestic Annual Harvest | 4,556 | 9,134 | 9,134 |
| Border Transfer | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Domestic Annual Processing | 4,556 | 9,134 | 9,134 |
| US At-Sea Processing | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Area 1A Sub-ACL (28.9%) | 1,317 | 2,640 | 2,640 |
| Area 1B Sub-ACL (4.3%) | 196 | 393 | 393 |
| Area 2 Sub-ACL (27.8%) | 1,267 | 2,539 | 2,539 |
| Area 3 Sub-ACL (39%) | 1,777 | 3,562 | 3,562 |
| Fixed Gear Set-Aside | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| Research Set-Aside | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| If New Brunswick weir landings are less than 2,600 mt through October 1, then 1,000 mt will be subtracted from the management uncertainty and reallocated to the Area 1A sub-ACL and the ACL. | |||
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