Atlantic Herring

NOAA Fisheries and the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) manage the Atlantic herring fishery in federal waters with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) coordinating management of the herring fishery in state waters. The two entities develop their regulations in close coordination and will jointly implement quotas, catch caps, and other management measures. Individual Atlantic states are responsible for implementing regulations recommended by the ASMFC while NOAA is responsible for implementing regulations recommended by the NEFMC.

The US Atlantic herring fishery is managed under the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Herring. Under the FMP, fishery managers undertake regular stock assessments (every one to three years) for Atlantic herring and set annual catch limits for the entire fishery based on the results of those assessments. Managers then divide the total catch limit into four management areas each with its own specific area limit. These areas are: Area 1A in the Gulf of Maine, Area 1B from Cape Cod to the US exclusive economic zone (EEZ), Area 2 inshore south of Nantucket, and Area 3 south of Cape Cod to Georges Bank. Once a specific area limit is reached, the directed fishery in that area is closed and only incidental catch of Atlantic herring is then allowed. The fishery operates in Area 1A, 1B, and 3 in the summer and in Areas 2 and 3 in the winter. Among other measures the plan addresses are:

• A limited access permit program – limiting the number of vessels participating in the fishery (those vessels who do not qualify for a limited access permit can be issued a open access permit and still harvest a small amount of herring – 6,600 pounds – per day or per trip). 
• Limits to the number of herring a vessel can possess in one day or one trip
• Measures to reduce marine mammal interactions

There are differences in management measures undertaken by the ASMFC and NEFMC. The NEFMC prohibits midwater trawling from June 1 to September 30 in federal waters while the ASMFC operates using area closures to protect spawning herring and a “days out” program that limits the number of days each week a vessel may fish for herring in state waters.

The majority of the Atlantic herring harvest (about 78 percent) occurs in the US – with Canada accounting for the remainder of the catch. The fishery is considered extremely valuable to the economy of the US Northeast. According to a 2015 stock assessment, Atlantic herring are not overfished nor subject to overfishing. The 2015 stock assessment also concluded that spawning stock biomass is well above target levels.