Commercial river herring approved for ME
Published onEfforts to restore and improve up and downstream passage for sea-run fish species on five Maine water bodies have provided several Maine towns with the opportunity to have a commercial river herring harvest. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commissions (ASMFC) American Shad and River Herring Management Board has approved commercial fishing opportunities for alewife and blueback herring, collectively known as river herring, on Sewall Pond, Wight Pond, the Pennamaquan River, Chemo pond and Pushaw Lake. Read more...
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Herring harvest debate heats up in British Columbia
Published onThe Pacific herring fishery in British Columbias Strait of Georgie has become a focal point of intense debate between ecological conservation and economic interests. Recent decisions by Fisheries and Ocean Canada (DFO) to increase herring harvest quotas have elicited both support and strong opposition from various stakeholders. In February 2025, DFO announced an increase in the commercial Pacific herring harvest quota for the Strait of Georgia, permitting the catch of over 10,850 metric tonnes. This decision aligns with DFOs assessment that herring stocks are at historically high levels, based on data dating back to 1950. The department maintains that the commercial fishery will leave approximately 80 percent of the estimated spawning biomass in the water, ensuring sufficient herring remains to spawn and sustain future fisheries. The British Columbia Seafood Alliance, representing a significant portion of the provinces commercial fishing industry, has endorsed the DFOs decision. Rob Morley of the ...
Read MorePrince William Sound herring opens to limited market
Published onJust two of seven vessels registered for the Prince William Sound herring fishery expected to begin harvesting when the fishery opened on Nov. 12, due to limited market conditions. Read more
Read MoreUncertainty surrounds long awaited herring opening
Published onHarvesters are still looking for buyers before gearing up to fish the Prince William Sound herring fishery, which is set to open on Wednesday for the first time since 1998. Read more
Read MoreMaine lobstermen question cut in herring quota
Published onPORTLAND (WGME) Fishermen in Maine say they're dealing with a new setback: a nearly 90 percent cut in how much herring they can bring in to bait lobster. Congressman Jared Golden says he's opposed to the limit, which would reduce the herring catch by 89 percent over three years. Fishermen in Maine say they question how regulators came to that catch limit, saying the fish are out there. Read more
Read MoreGulf of Maine Atlantic herring quota gets 1000 mt boost
Published onThis action increases the Atlantic herring Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (ACL) and the ACL for the remainder of fishing year 2024. Because NOAA Fisheries determined herring landings in the New Brunswick weir fishery were less than 2,722 mt through October 1, 2024, we subtracted 1,000 mt from the management uncertainty buffer and re-allocated it to the herring Area 1A sub-ACL and the ACL. Read more
Read MoreCouncil offers Martha's Vineyard hope on river herring
Published onIsland herring managers say they are optimistic for the dwindling species, following a recent decision by a regional fishing agency to pass a number of measures intended to help rebuild both sea and river herring populations and reduce the bycatch of river herring. Read more
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Herring scheme: Maine fishermen receive sentencing
Published onMultiple herring fishermen from New England of the commercial fishing vessel Western Sea were involved in underreporting and falsifying tax records for over three years. Their sentences have finally been announced for the illegal behavior that left a mark on the Gulf of Maine herring fishery. However, local herring fishermen feel that the sentences dont make up for the scheme. F/V Western Sea and the fishermen engaged in more than 80 fishing trips between June 2016 and September 2019, underreporting substantial catches to NOAA Fisheries. The individuals were indicted in January 2022 on 35 counts of conspiracy, fraud, and falsifying fishing records. Atlantic herring is Maine's most crucial pelagic fishery resource, supplying the primary bait for the lobster fishery. Landings in the state were about 13 million pounds in 2019, valued at about $5.8 million ex-vessel. The indictment alleged that the crew had sold more than ...
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The Little Boats that Could: Supreme Court rules for fishermen
Published onWilliam Bright, Wayne Reichle, and Stefan Axelsson manage commercial fishing businesses in New Jersey, targeting Atlantic herring. For many years, fishermen like Bill, Wayne, and Stefan have been required to carry federal observers on their vessels when venturing into the Atlantic to catch herring. These observers are mandated to ensure that the fishermen comply with legal catch limits, aiming to prevent overfishing.However, in 2020, NOAA Fisheries overreached the authority granted to the agency by law, and decided that herring fishermen should directly pay the observers' salaries, potentially costing them up to $700 per day. According to estimates, the cost of the observers could amount to over 20 percent of the revenue from their catch.Consequently, Reichle, Bright, and Axelsson filed a lawsuit against the federal government inLoper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo."From the beginning, the most important thing for us was the ability to continue fishing and continue operating ...
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Atlantic herring suffering in warming Gulf of St. Lawrence
Published onDecades of research show a slow decline in herring stocks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and scientists are linking that decline to waters that are warming with climate change. Read more
Read MoreWarming Casco Bay waters driving herring offshore
Published onThe Gulf of Maine is warming three times faster than the average global ocean, driving some cold-water species like Atlantic herring the preferred lobster bait farther away from its shoreline spawning habitat earlier than usual and attracting species from warmer southern waters, including blue crab and black sea bass, a new survey found. Read more
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Establishment of the Alaska Herring Revitalization Committee
Published onThe Alaska Board of Fisheries and the Alaska Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission (CFEC) have created a joint committee to recognize the need to change the regulatory system to support the herring roe fishery and benefit the seafood industry. The value of Alaska's herring roe fisheries has declined since the 1990s. The regulatory structure was initially designed to support most of the harvest for herring roe; however, this structure must change to create higher-value markets and uses for herring. The spring harvest of herring eggs has always been an important subsistence resource in coastal communities throughout Alaska. Photo courtesy of David Clark/ European Union. A statement released by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game discusses the Herring Revitalization Committee and the joint efforts between the Board of Fisheries and the Commission. The Alaska Board of Fisheries is the states leading entity for creating and amending fisheries for maximum ...
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Next BOEM studies will examine Gulf of Maine, NJ wind conflicts
Published onThe federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on March 18 opened two new environmental assessments of offshore wind power: one for the agencys proposed Gulf of Maine wind energy areas, the other for the Atlantic Shores project off New Jersey. Both proposals are hotly contested by ocean user groups, but supported by Northeast state political leaders along with the Biden administration. The processes opened March 18 with a notice of intent in the Federal Register, and come as the budding U.S. offshore wind industry remains under financial and supply-chain setbacks. The Gulf of Maine wind energy area includes around 2 million acres off Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, from 23 mile to 92 miles offshore, according to BOEM. The agency says that is an 80 percent reduction from a much broader area initially examined by BOEM, and a further 43 percent down from an early draft plan. BOEM ...
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Farther offshore, next New York Bight wind leases still draw opponents
Published onSix offshore wind lease areas in the New York Bight are more than 30 miles offshore of the regions bustling suburbs and seaside resorts distance that might have defused resistance to the wind energy projects before. Now opposition groups that grew in reaction to nearshore projects, like rsteds cancelled Ocean Wind plan off New Jersey, show few signs they will accept a new round of proposals farther east to the horizon. Over 100 visitors walked through a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management public scoping session Feb. 8 in a Toms River, N.J., hotel meeting room, talking to BOEM workers and giving the agency testimony in video interviews and writing. The agency has grown to prefer the low-key scoping process in-person and online to fulfill its legal obligations to gather public input short of full-blown public hearings. The visitors were not shy with opinions. What were really ...
Read MoreHerring fleet awaits Supreme Court rulings
Published onThe Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in the Loper Bright Enterprises, Inc. v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Dept. of Commerce cases that could see a longstanding 1984 precedent overturned. The plaintiffs in the Loper Bright Enterprises, Inc. v. Raimondo case are a group of herring fishermen from Cape May, N.J., who are challenging a 2020 regulation issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service that requires them to pay around $700 per day for human monitors to be put on their boats when asked to ensure they adhere to fishing regulations. Read more
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All-time high limit set for Sitka herring season, but few buyers
Published onThe Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) has posted a harvest guideline for the 2024 Sitka herring season of 81,246 tons, or approximately 162.5 million pounds. [The forecast] is greater than any prior forecast or estimate of spawning biomass for Sitka Sound herring, ADFGsaid in a 22 December advisory announcement. But with few interested buyers, the fishery, which opens in late March or early April, is not attracting much commercial interest. There are three herring fisheries in Alaska Sitka; Togiak, which is in Bristol Bay; and Kodiak all of which have experiencedhistorically large runs in recent years. Theforecast for the 2024 Togiak fisheryis 216,037 tons, the fifth-highest since 1993. The 2024 Kodiak season forecast has not yet been released. In 2022, the herring fishery was valued at $12.7 million, the highest value total since 2013 but down from previous years, during which the fishery ...
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