Atlantic Herring

Recreational Fishing Regulations

Commercial Fishing Regulations

Altantic Herring Specifications, Quotas, and Possession Limits

2019 Atlantic Herring Specifications 

Research Set-Aside

Up to 3 percent of the stock-wide herring ACL can be set aside for use in research.

2019 Management Area Quotas

* Area 1A: Vessels may not fish for, possess, or retain herring from January 1 through May 31. **Area 1B: Vessels may not fish for, possess, or retain herring from January 1 through April 30.

Possession Limits

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 receive one of the herring permits listed below. Herring vessels exceeding the size and horsepower restrictions may receive a herring at-sea processing permit. 

*Applicable unless an area’s sub-ACL or the overall herring ACL has been harvested. No vessel may possess more than 2,000 lb of herring per trip/day after notification that a herring management area’s sub-ACL, or the overall herring fishery ACL, has been harvested.
**Any vessel issued a limited access mackerel permit can be issued this herring open access permit

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.

Scientific Information

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% 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% 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.