Atlantic Herring

How is this fishery managed?

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).

Who manages this fishery?

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.

What is the fishing year for this fishery?

January 1 – December 31

How often do the quotas change for this fishery? 

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.

What is the control date for this fishery?

September 16, 1999

What are the different management areas for the herring fishery?

Area 1A – Inshore Gulf of Maine

Area 1B – Offshore Gulf of Maine

Area 2 – South Coastal Area

Area 3 – Georges Bank

What time of year are Atlantic herring most commonly found?

The fishery generally follows herring as they migrate. Fishing in the southern portion of herring’s range (especially off 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.

What is the geographic extent of the fishery?

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 become increasingly scarce south of New Jersey. The majority of the harvest comes from federal waters.

At what depths are herring found?

Adult Atlantic herring are found in shallow inshore waters, 20 meters deep, to offshore waters up to 200 meters deep.

What gear types are primarily used for herring?

Trawls (bottom and mid-water, single and paired), purse seines, gillnets, and weirs are the primary gears used by the commercial herring fishery.

Atlantic Herring Management Plan

Management Timeline

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 Industry-Funded Monitoring (IFM) 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%).

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.

Upcoming Actions

2019 – Framework 7 - The Council has initiated a Framework action to address spawning on Georges Bank.

Overfishing Definition/Status Determination Criteria:

Framework 6 to the Herring Fishery Management Plan(currently being drafted) would update the overfished and overfishing definitions for the herring fishery to make them more consistent with the most recent stock assessment in 2018. The current overfished and overfishing definitions are as follows:

If stock biomass is equal or greater than B_MSY, overfishing occurs when fishing mortality exceeds F_MSY. If stock biomass is below B_MSY, overfishing occurs when fishing mortality exceeds the level that has a 50 percent probability to rebuild stock biomass to B_MSY in 5 years (F_Threshold). The stock is in an overfished condition when stock biomass is below ½ B_MSY and overfishing occurs when fishing mortality exceeds F_Threshold. These reference points are thresholds and form the basis for the control rule.

The control rule also specifies risk-averse fishing mortality targets, accounting for the uncertainty in the estimate of F_MSY. If stock biomass is equal to or greater than 1/2B_MSY, the target fishing mortality will be the lower level of the 80 percent confidence interval about F_MSY. When biomass is below B_MSY, the target fishing mortality will be reduced consistent with the five-year rebuilding schedule used to determine F_Threshold.

Current Stock Status

In June of 2018, a new Northeast Regional Stock Assessment Workshop (SAW), reviewed by the Stock Assessment Review Committee (SARC), for herring was completed. The assessment concluded that although herring was not overfished and overfishing was not occurring in 2017, the stock was declining due to poor recruitment. The stock assessment estimated that recruitment had been at historic lows during the most recent 5 years (2013–2017). The final assessment summary report is available on the Northeast Fisheries Science Center website.

The assessment projected that poor recruitment of herring would likely result in a substantial decline in biomass, but that the biomass should increase after reaching a low in 2019 if recruitment returns to historic average levels. The SAW/SARC concluded that catch reductions would be necessary during 2018–2021 in prevent overfishing and to lower the risk of the stock becoming overfished. Based on stock assessment projections, NOAA Fisheries reduced the 2018 ACL to 49,900 mt to lessen the risk of overfishing (Table 3). This reduction was based on a 50 percent probability of preventing overfishing in 2018. NOAA Fisheries set this level based on the newly projected overfishing limit (OFL) for 2018 out of precaution to prevent overfishing while allowing the fishery to achieve optimum yield (OY).

Current Management

The new specifications for the 2019–2021 fishing years were not yet in place January 1, 2019, so the amended 2018 specifications rolled over and became effective for 2019. Because the catch limits that rolled over were in excess of the OFL, the New England Council recommended and NOAA Fisheries enacted an inseason adjustment that reduced the rolled-over 2018 limits to acceptable levels for 2019. The adjustments reduced the OFL and ABC to 30,668 mt and 21,266 mt respectively for the 2019 fishing year, and reduced the ACL to 15,065 mt. These specifications will remain in place until Framework 6 (which includes the 2019–2021 specifications) becomes effective (expected in early 2020).

At their September 2018 meeting, the New England Council approved an ABC control rule in Amendment 8 to the Herring FMP that, if approved by NOAA Fisheries, would be used to set specifications for the herring fishery in future years. This control rule is a more conservative management approach than the interim control rule (used in previous specification cycles) because a portion of the available catch would be set aside to explicitly account for the role of herring as forage in the ecosystem. The ABC control rule would cap overall fishing mortality at 80 percent of the maximum sustainable yield (known as F_MSY). Under previous control rules, herring harvest could occur at 100% of the F_MSY.

Amendment 8 would also set up an inshore buffer that would disallow any midwater trawl vessels from fishing within 15 miles of shore in any water east/north of a perpendicular line extending due south from the border between Rhode Island and Connecticut. In addition, midwater trawl vessels would not be able to fish in boxes (i.e. 30 minute squares) surrounding Cape Cod (boxes 99, 100, 114, 115, and 123). Amendment 8 has not yet been reviewed or approved by NOAA Fisheries, but that decision is expected in late 2019.

2020 Stock Assessment and 2021–2023 Specifications

The Northeast Fishery Science Center has scheduled the next stock assessment workshop for Atlantic herring in June 2020. This stock assessment will inform development of the specifications for 2021–2023. It is anticipated that the 2021–2023 specifications will be completed and become effective in early 2021, and will thus replace the last year of the 2019–2021 specifications that are currently being finalized in Herring Framework 6.

Future stock assessments are schedule to continue on a biennial basis. As such, specification will continue to be developed every two years, although they will continue to set catch limits on a 3-year cycle. Changes to the third year of the specification cycle will be considered based on the results of the stock assessment.