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.

Industry-Funded Monitoring Coverage in the Atlantic Herring Fishery will Begin in April 2021

December 3, 2020

NOAA Fisheries intends to begin selecting vessels with Category A or B herring permits for industry-funded monitoring (IFM) coverage on April 1, 2021, unless ongoing health mandates and travel restrictions cause a further delay. Beginning IFM coverage at the start of the 2021 IFM year (April 1, 2021 - March 31, 2022) will provide us time to resume the onsite and field-based activities necessary to train observers, and develop applications to successfully implement this program. Also beginning April 1, 2021, midwater trawl vessel owners will have the option of purchasing additional observer coverage to satisfy the requirement of carrying an observer to access Groundfish Closed Areas.

In the meantime, vessels are still required to adhere to all Pre-Trip Notification System (PTNS) requirements for the herring fishery. For complete information on notification and reporting requirements, please see the Notification, Reporting, and Monitoring Requirements for the Atlantic Herring Fishery webpage.

Some herring vessels have the option of being issued an exempted fishing permit (EFP) to use electronic monitoring and portside sampling instead of at-sea monitoring coverage to satisfy IFM requirements in 2021. We will work with the herring fleet by the end of 2020 to determine who is interested in being issued an EFP.

There are currently four companies approved to provide IFM services to herring vessels. Additionally, the agency has contracted Saltwater, Inc. to supply electronic monitoring services for vessels issued an EFP. Outreach will continue through 2020 in support of the program to ensure that the industry understands its requirements.

For 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, 2020, bulletin.
• Electronic monitoring EFP, see our March 30, 2020, email.
• Update on notification requirements and timing of IFM implementation, see our March 31, 2020, email.
• Notification, Reporting, and Monitoring Requirements for the Atlantic Herring Fishery, see our March 31, 2020, bulletin.
• Update on timing of IFM implementation, see our June 5, 2020, email.
• Reminder about midwater trawl vessels fishing inside groundfish closed areas, see our October 22, 2020, email.
• Approved IFM service providers, see our IFM in the Northeast webpage.

Questions?

For more information about the IFM amendment or the electronic monitoring EFP, please contact Carrie Nordeen, Sustainable Fisheries, 978-281-9272; or Maria Fenton, Sustainable Fisheries, 978-281-9196.

For more information on notification, reporting, and monitoring requirements, please contact Sara Weeks, Fisheries Monitoring Operations, 508-642-6005; or Glenn Chamberlain, Fisheries Monitoring Operations, 508-495-2153.

For more information on electronic monitoring, please contact Nichole Rossi, Electronic Monitoring Regional Coordinator, 508-495-2128.