Atlantic Herring

Slippage Prohibition

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.

Midwater trawl herring vessels carrying an observer may not slip catch and must bring all catch aboard the vessel to make it available for sampling by an observer. 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.

Exceptions from Slippage Prohibition

Limited Access herring vessels (Category A, B, C) may slip catch if:

1. Pumping the catch aboard could compromise safety;
2. Mechanical failure prevents the catch from being pumped aboard; or
3. Spiny dogfish have clogged the pump and prevent the catch from being pumped aboard.

Slippage Consequence Measure

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 this released catch affidavit form: (1) The vessel name and permit number; (2)  the VTR serial number; where, when, and the reason for slipping catch; (3) the estimated weight of each species brought on board or slipped on that tow. A 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 catch is slipped by a vessel issued Category A or B Herring permit 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.

If you are fishing with midwater trawl gear in the groundfish closed areas or your limited access herring vessel is carrying a NOAA Fisheries observer, you must bring all catch aboard the vessel and make it available to the observer for sampling.

Minimum mesh size

Not applicable.

Other Gear Restrictions

The use of midwater trawl gear is prohibited in Area 1A from June 1 to September 30.

Herring as Bait

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 ft and not greater than 6 ft 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.

Vessels fishing for tuna may not have on board purse seine, midwater trawl, pelagic gillnet, sink gillnet, or bottom trawl gear for catching herring as bait. Tuna vessels can purchase herring for bait without a herring permit provided they do not have these herring gears on board.

Herring Roe  

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.

Herring Vessels Working Cooperatively 

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.

Herring Carrier Vessels

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.

Update on Implementing Industry-Funded Monitoring in the Atlantic Herring Fishery

NOAA Fisheries is delaying the start date to begin assigning industry-funded monitoring (IFM) coverage in the herring fishery until later this year. 

The training class for new portside samplers in the herring fishery was delayed due to the health mandates and travel restrictions in place this spring. This training will be rescheduled for later this year. Until this training occurs, IFM portside sampling coverage will not be available for midwater trawl herring vessels that are enrolled in an electronic monitoring exempted fishing permit (EFP). We do not intend to select herring vessels for IFM at-sea monitoring coverage until IFM portside sampling coverage is also available for EFP vessels. For this reason, we will not be selecting any herring vessels for IFM coverage until after the portside sampling training has been completed. Vessels are still required to adhere to all Pre-Trip Notification System (PTNS) requirements for the herring fishery. However,  PTNS will continue to issue waivers for IFM coverage in the meantime, and herring vessels will not be responsible for paying sampling costs associated with IFM until later this year.

More Information

We will update industry participants as we know more about the timing of implementing IFM in the herring fishery. For more information on the herring IFM program, please see the following resources:

• IFM in the herring fishery, see our January 29 bulletin.
• Electronic monitoring EFP, see our March 30 email.
• Notification, Reporting, and Monitoring Requirements for the Atlantic Herring Fishery, see our March 31 bulletin.

Questions?

Contact Carrie Nordeen, Sustainable Fisheries, 978-281-9272 or Maria Fenton, Sustainable Fisheries, 978-281-9196.

Last updated by Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office on 06/05/2020.