ASMFC Postpones Action on Inshore Herring Fishery

by Laurie Schreiber

ARLINGTON, VA—At its May 5 meeting, held by video-conference, the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) voted to postpone final action on Addendum III to Amendment 3 of its Atlantic herring management plan.

The draft addendum proposes options to better manage the Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) sub-annual catch limit (ACL) under low quota scenarios.

The action responds to challenges encountered in managing the reduced sub-ACL based on the 2018 benchmark stock assessment, which highlighted declining trends in recruitment and spawning stock biomass, according to an ASMFC press release.

Currently, the board can allocate the sub-ACL throughout the fishing season using bi-monthly, trimester, or seasonal quota periods to meet the needs of the fishery.

For the 2019 fishing season, the board implemented a bimonthly quota period approach to maximize use of the reduced sub-ACL when demand for bait is high.

Due to the low quota, the 2019 fishery experienced frequent closures to avoid an overage. The 2020 sub-ACL of 3,344 metric tons is lower than in 2019, creating further challenges in distributing the quota throughout the fishing season, the release said.

“The draft addendum considers additional tools to provide the board more flexibility in specifying the allocation under low quota scenarios and meet the needs of the herring fishery moving forward,” the release said. “Additionally, the draft addendum considers expanding landing provisions across different permit categories within the days out program. The board utilizes days out of the fishery and weekly landing limits to adjust the rate of Area 1A catch. The draft addendum includes options that apply weekly landing limits to all vessel categories landing herring in Area 1A throughout the entire fishing season.”

Public hearings were held in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, and at a committee meeting of the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) and via a webinar in March.

The decision to postpone was made in order to allow time to receive and review a new stock assessment that’s expected to be published in the coming weeks, and to give ASMFC time to meet on the subject with its NEFMC counterparts, ASMFC members said.

The new assessment was expected to have an impact on upcoming specifications.

“There are a number of moving targets,” said NEFMC member Peter Kendall.

The Atlantic herring fishery is managed as a single stock through complementary fishery management plans by the ASMFC and the NEFMC, according to the ASMFC’s public information document.

ASMFC coordinates interstate management of Atlantic herring in state waters (0-3 miles). NEFMC and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) manage the fishery in the exclusive economic zone (3-200 miles from shore).

The stockwide annual catch limit (ACL) is divided among four management areas: inshore Gulf of Maine (Area 1A), offshore Gulf of Maine (Area 1B), Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic (Area 2), and Georges Bank (Area 3). 0At its 2019 annual meeting, the ASMFC’s Atlantic Herring Management Board approved a motion to initiate an addendum that would add options to address challenges experienced in low quota scenarios (frequent starting and stopping of fishing days, small amounts of quota left at the end of the year). The addendum would include an option that allocates 100% of the Area 1A quota to the months of June-December; and would expand certain permit provisions as part of the days out program to maximize landings value and provide greater flexibility in managing the herring fishery under low quota scenarios.

Historically, the sub-ACL in Area 1A was divided seasonally, as well as by trimesters, to meet the needs of the herring fishery and bait market.

In recent years, the board implemented measures to distribute the quota throughout the second trimester, from June through September, using management tools such as the days out program.

For the 2019 fishing year, the sub-ACL was significantly reduced due to lower recruitment and population size estimates.

In response, the board lowered the quota and implemented new days out measures.

However, the new measures resulted in short and infrequent windows of harvesting opportunity. And little quota was left toward the end of the fishing year, making fishing trips less economical.

To avoid continual closures and to manage landings more efficiently under low quota scenarios, the ASMFC determined that new allocations and management tools were needed.