Age Determination Methods for Northwest Atlantic Species
This manual documents age determination techniques used by staff at the Woods Hole Laboratory to…
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U.S. wild-caught Atlantic herring is a smart seafood choice because it is sustainably managed and responsibly harvested under U.S. regulations.
Significantly below target population level. A rebuilding plan is being developed for the Atlantic herring stock.
At recommended levels.
Fishing gears used to harvest Atlantic herring have minimal impacts on habitat.
Regulations are in place to minimize bycatch.
Last updated by NOAA Fisheries on 06/07/2022
Last updated by NOAA Fisheries on 06/07/2022
Fishing year 2022 specifications were initially set through Framework Adjustment 8 to the Herring Fishery Management Plan (FMP), and were later adjusted through a January 2022 temporary rule. Please visit our Framework 8 regulatory action page for more information on fishery specifications.
Up to 3 percent of the herring ACL can be set aside for use in research.
2022 Research Set-Aside
No vessels are pursuing herring RSA in 2022. As a result, we did not specify RSA for 2022. Herring RSA will be revisited for fishing years the 2023-2025
Vessels fishing for herring that are less than 165 feet in length overall, less than 750 gross registered tons, or less than 3,000 shaft horsepower may be issued one of the herring permits listed below. Herring vessels exceeding the size and horsepower restrictions may be issued a herring at-sea processing permit.
Permit Category | Description | Possession Limit |
A | All Areas Limited Access | Unlimited in all areas |
B | Areas 2/3 Limited Access | Unlimited in Areas 2/3 |
C | Incidental Catch Limited Access | 55,000 lb per trip/day in all areas |
D | Open Access* | 6,600 lb per trip/day in all areas |
*Any vessel issued a limited access mackerel permit can be issued this herring open access permit
Possession Limit Adjustments
The possession limits in the table above apply unless one of the following possession limit adjustments are in effect:
Slippage in the Atlantic herring fishery means discarded catch from a vessel issued an Atlantic herring permit that is carrying a NOAA Fisheries-certified observer or monitor prior to the catch being brought on board or prior to the catch being made available for sampling and inspection by a NOAA Fisheries-certified observer or monitor after the catch is on board. Slippage also means any catch that is discarded during a trip prior to it being sampled portside by a portside sampler on a trip selected for portside sampling coverage by NOAA Fisheries. Slippage includes releasing catch from a codend or seine prior to the completion of pumping the catch aboard and the release of catch from a codend or seine while the codend or seine is in the water. Fish that cannot be pumped and remain in the codend or seine at the end of pumping operations are not considered slippage. Discards that occur after the catch is brought on board and made available for sampling and inspection by a NOAA Fisheries-certified observer or monitor are also not considered slippage.
Vessels may make test tows without pumping catch on board, provided that all catch from test tows is available to the observer when the next tow is brought aboard.
Slippage does not include operational discards, discards that occur after the catch is brought on board and made available for sampling and inspection by a NOAA Fisheries-certified observer or monitor, or fish that inadvertently fall out of or off fishing gear as gear is being brought on board the vessel
Limited Access herring vessels (Category A, B, C) may slip catch if:
If a vessel issued any limited access herring permit slips catch, the vessel operator must report the slippage event on the Atlantic herring daily VMS catch report and indicate the reason for slipping catch. Additionally, the vessel operator must complete and sign a released catch affidavit form, which is available on the Greater Atlantic Region Forms and Applications Summary webpage. The released catch affidavit must detail:
The completed affidavit must be submitted to NOAA Fisheries within 48 hr of the end of the trip.
If a vessel issued a Category A or B Herring permit slips catch for any of the reasons described in the section above (see “Exceptions for Slippage Prohibitions”), the vessel operator must move at least 15 nm from where the slippage event occurred before deploying any gear again, and must stay at least 15 nm away from the slippage event location for the remainder of the fishing trip.
If a vessel issued a Category A or B herring permit slips catch for any reason not described in the section above, the vessel operator must immediately terminate the trip and return to port. No fishing activity may occur during the return to port.
Not applicable.
The use of midwater trawl gear is prohibited in Area 1A from June 1 to September 30.
Vessels may possess herring solely for personal use as bait without holding a herring permit as long as the vessel does not have purse seine, midwater trawl, pelagic gillnet, sink gillnet, or bottom trawl gear on board.
Vessels may use pelagic gillnets to catch herring for use as bait. Pelagic gillnet gear is defined as a single gillnet not longer than 300 feet and not greater than 6 feet deep, with a maximum mesh size of 3 inches. The pelagic gillnet must be attached to the vessel and fished in the upper two-thirds of the water column.
A vessel issued a herring permit may possess herring roe provided that the carcasses of the herring from which it came are not discarded at sea.
Each vessel working cooperatively in the herring fishery, including vessels pair trawling, purse seining, and transferring herring at-sea, must be issued a valid herring permit to fish for, possess, or land Atlantic herring and are subject to the most restrictive herring possession limit associated with the permits issued to vessels working cooperatively.
Atlantic herring carrier vessels operating under a letter of authorization or an Atlantic herring carrier VMS trip declaration may not possess, transfer, or land any species other than Atlantic herring, except that they may possess Northeast multispecies transferred by vessels issued either Category A or B Herring Permit, consistent with the applicable possession limits for such vessels.
Last updated by NOAA Fisheries on 06/07/2022
Last updated by NOAA Fisheries on 06/07/2022
The Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) Fishery Management Plan prohibits fishing with small-mesh bottom trawl gear, except in specific exemption areas. These exemption areas are described below, and additional information about the specific requirements for each area can be found on the linked webpages within the tables.
A Letter of Authorization (LOA) is required to participate in some of these exemption areas. Permits and LOAs can be obtained from our Permits Office at (978) 282-8438, or online by visiting our Forms and Applications webpage. If you have questions about these exemption areas, please call the Sustainable Fisheries Division at (978) 281-9315.
Atlantic herring and Atlantic mackerel may be retained by vessels fishing with small-mesh bottom trawl gear in the exemption areas listed in the table below, provided vessels meet the following criteria:
Herring is considered an incidentally-caught species in these exemption areas; therefore, in order to fish with small-mesh bottom trawl in these areas, vessels must be on a trip targeting whiting. River herring and shad may not be retained when fishing with small-mesh bottom trawl gear in these exemption areas, with the exception that alewife may be retained in the Gulf of Maine Grate Raised Footrope Trawl Exemption Area.
Area Name | Season | LOA Required? |
---|---|---|
Gulf of Maine Grate Raised Footrope Trawl Whiting Fishery Exemption Area | July 1 - November 30 | No |
Cultivator Shoal Whiting Fishery Exemption Area | June 15 - October 31 | Yes |
Small-Mesh Exemption Areas 1 & 2 |
Small-Mesh Area 1: July 15 - November 15 Small-Mesh Area 2: January 1 - June 30 |
No |
Raised Footrope Trawl Exempted Whiting Fishery Areas (Cape Cod) |
September 1 - November 20 September 1 - December 31 |
Yes |
Vessels may fish for herring using small-mesh bottom trawl gear in the Southern New England Exemption Area, provided they comply with all gear requirements and possession limits. River herring may be retained as incidental catch when fishing with small-mesh bottom trawl gear in this exemption area.
Area Name | Season | LOA Required? |
---|---|---|
Southern New England Exemption Area | Year-round | No |
Last updated by NOAA Fisheries on 06/07/2022
On February 7, 2020, NOAA Fisheries published a final rule implementing the New England Industry-Funded Monitoring (IFM) Omnibus Amendment. Among other measures, the IFM Amendment established a new IFM program in the herring fishery. Under this program, vessels issued a Category A (All Areas) or Category B (Areas 2/3) herring permit must secure at-sea monitoring coverage from a NOAA Fisheries-approved service provider on declared herring trips that are selected for IFM coverage. The target IFM coverage rate for herring vessels is 50 percent of declared herring trips. This coverage rate includes a combination of Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology (SBRM) and IFM coverage. NOAA Fisheries began selecting declared herring trips for IFM coverage on July 1, 2021. The IFM year runs from April 1 through March 31 annually.
On July 1, 2021, NOAA Fisheries issued an EFP authorizing participating vessels to use a combination of EM and portside sampling instead of at-sea monitoring in order to satisfy their IFM coverage requirements during IFM year 2021 (July 1, 2021 - March 31, 2022). On March 30, 2022, we reissued the EFP to cover IFM year 2022 (April 1, 2022 - March 31, 2023).
Under the EFP, participating vessels must run their EM systems on 100 percent of declared herring trips. Instead of at-sea monitoring, participating vessels must secure portside sampling services from a NOAA Fisheries-approved service provider on trips that are selected for IFM coverage. Participating vessels are also required to land at a NOAA Fisheries-approved sampling station on trips that are portside sampled. The EFP does not exempt participating vessels from SBRM coverage requirements, so participants must carry a NEFOP observer in addition to running their EM systems on herring trips that are selected for SBRM coverage.
Vessels must follow all Pre-Trip Notification System (PTNS) requirements for the herring fishery. For more information on notification and reporting requirements, please see the Notification, Reporting, and Monitoring Requirements for the Atlantic Herring Fishery bulletin from March 31, 2020.
On February 9, 2022, NOAA Fisheries Approved four companies to provide IFM services to herring vessels in IFM years 2022 and 2023. Please see the Observer Providers for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Programs webpage for details about these companies and the services they were approved to provide.
Vessels issued a Category A or B Atlantic herring permit must log into their PTNS web account to review the list of approved providers in PTNS and rank them in order of preference.
A vessel may fish with midwater trawl gear inside certain Groundfish Closed Areas on a herring trip if:
Vessels carrying an at-sea monitor on trips selected for IFM coverage are not allowed to fish with midwater trawl gear inside a Groundfish Closed Area. If a trip is not selected for IFM or SBRM coverage, midwater trawl vessel owners may purchase supplemental observer coverage in order to fish in a Groundfish Closed Area. Additionally, if a vessel is participating in the herring EM EFP, the vessel owner may purchase supplemental portside sampling coverage in order to fish in a Groundfish Closed Area.
If a vessel is issued a coverage waiver for a trip and does not carry an observer or get portside sampled, the vessel is not permitted to fish inside a Groundfish Closed Area during that trip.
We intended to implement IFM in the herring fishery and begin selecting vessels issued Category A or B herring permits for IFM coverage on April 1, 2020. However, the health mandates and travel restrictions that were in place at the time delayed implementation of IFM until July 2021. For more information and past updates on the herring IFM program, please see the following resources:
Last updated by NOAA Fisheries on 06/07/2022
The herring fishery is managed by a stock-wide annual catch limit (ACL) that is allocated to four distinct management areas (sub-ACLs, also known as management area quotas).
Herring is managed in federal waters by the New England Fishery Management Council and NOAA Fisheries. Herring is managed in state waters by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and individual states. Individual states may set different regulations, such as possession/landing restrictions or spawning area closures. If state regulations differ from federal regulations, herring permit holders must adhere to the more restrictive regulations.
January 1 – December 31
Specifications are set every three years for the herring fishery. The specifications from the previous year roll over if specifications are not in place at the start of the fishing year.
September 16, 1999
Area 1A – Inshore Gulf of Maine
Area 1B – Offshore Gulf of Maine
Area 2 – South Coastal Area
Area 3 – Georges Bank
The fishery generally follows herring as they migrate. Fishing in the southern portion of herring’s range (especially off the coast of New Jersey) is common in the winter, while fishing on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine is more common between May and November.
Herring are distributed from North Carolina to Maine and from inshore to offshore waters to the edge of the continental shelf. The species is most abundant north of Cape Cod and has become increasingly scarce south of New Jersey. The majority of the harvest comes from federal waters.
Adult Atlantic herring are found in shallow inshore waters (20 meters deep) to offshore waters up to 200 meters deep.
Trawls (bottom and mid-water, single and paired), purse seines, gillnets, and weirs are the primary gears used by the commercial herring fishery.
1972-1976 – Herring is managed by the International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries
1976-1978 – NOAA Fisheries regulates international fishing through a preliminary fishery management plan
1978 – United States adopts its own management plan to manage herring stocks on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine, achieve higher levels of spawning biomass and stable recruitment, and rebuild the juvenile herring resource and sardine fishery in the Gulf of Maine
1982 – NOAA Fisheries rescinds the 1978 management plan because of conflicts between state and federal regulations
1982 – Herring is placed on prohibited species list, eliminating directed fisheries for the species by international fleets within the U.S. federal waters and requiring any herring bycatch be discarded
1983 – Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission adopts Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Herring
Mid-1980s – Georges Bank herring population begins to rebuild
1994 – Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission adopts a management plan for herring to address the growth of the herring resource and interest in Internal Water Processing operations
1999 – Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission adopts Amendment 1 to the herring management plan to complement the federal management plan in development at the time by the New England Fishery Management Council
2000 – NOAA Fisheries implements Federal Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan in conjunction with the New England Fishery Management Council
2006 - Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission adopts Amendment 2 to complement Amendment 1 in development at the time by the New England Fishery Management Council.
2007 – Amendment 1 implemented a limited entry for herring vessels, a seasonal purse seine/fixed gear only area in the inshore Gulf of Maine, a three-year specification process, and addressed other management measures for herring.
2008 – Amendment 2 implemented the Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology as a part of an Omnibus Amendment.
2011 – Amendment 4 implemented annual catch limits and accountability measures in the herring fishery.
2011 – Herring Regulatory Amendment implemented daily catch reporting for limited access herring vessels using vessel monitoring systems, weekly fishing vessel trip report reporting, and other catch reporting measures.
2013 – Framework 2 allowed the Council to split annual catch limits seasonally for the four Atlantic herring management areas, and carryover up to 10 percent of unharvested catch for each area's ACL.
2014 – Amendment 5 implemented measures revising fishery management program provisions (reporting, definitions, etc.); expanding vessel requirements associated with observer sampling; minimizing slippage; addressing the incidental catch and bycatch of river herring; and revising the criteria for midwater trawl vessel access to Groundfish closed areas.
2014 – Framework 3 established a process for setting river herring and shad catch caps in the herring fishery.
2015 - Amendment 6 established standards of precision for bycatch estimation for all New England and Mid-Atlantic fisheries.
2016 – Framework 4 implemented measures addressing slippage in the herring fishery.
2018 – Amendment 3 updated measures to protect Essential Fish Habitat for all federally managed species. This amendment modified some Groundfish Closed Areas, in some cases allowing the herring fishery greater access to these grounds.
2020 – The New England Industry-Funded Monitoring (IFM) Omnibus Amendment established industry-funded monitoring for the herring fishery and established a 50 percent combined monitoring coverage target for vessels issued Category A or B herring permits (IFM coverage +SBRM coverage = 50%).
2020 – Framework 6 established allowable 2020-2021 herring harvest levels and river herring and shad catch caps, consistent with the Atlantic Herring FMP. The specifications and management measures are necessary to meet conservation objectives while providing sustainable levels of access to the fishery.
2021 – Amendment 8 implemented measures to provide a long-term ABC control rule for the Atlantic herring fishery that will explicitly account for herring’s role in the ecosystem and to address the biological and ecological requirements of the Atlantic herring resource. Amendment 8 also included measures to address potential localized depletion and user conflicts with possible detrimental biological and socioeconomic impacts on predators of herring and other user groups.
2021 - Framework 8 reduced the Atlantic herring quotas for 2021-2023 as compared to 2020.This action modified in-season management measures to allow the Atlantic herring fleet more access to the Atlantic mackerel fishery.
2019 – Framework 7 - The Council has initiated a framework action to address spawning on Georges Bank.
2021 – Framework 9 - The Council has initiated a framework action to implement a rebuilding plan for herring and adjust accountability measures when catch limits are exceeded.
Last updated by NOAA Fisheries on 06/07/2022
The most recent herring stock assessment was completed in June 2020. Please visit the Fishery Stock Assessments in New England and the Mid-Atlantic webpage for more information about stock assessments, and the Stock Assessment Review Index webpage for copies of completed assessment documents.
Last updated by NOAA Fisheries on 06/07/2022
This manual documents age determination techniques used by staff at the Woods Hole Laboratory to…
Last updated by NOAA Fisheries on 06/07/2022