BELFAST, Maine — May 24, 2014 — The National Marine Fisheries Service Saturday closed a large swath of ocean offshore in the Gulf of Maine to fishing for Atlantic herring — the preferred bait of many lobstermen.
But the closure should not have a major detrimental impact on the state’s valuable lobster fishery, according to David Cousens, president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. He said Saturday that management area 1B, which begins at the eastern tip of Cape Cod and travels northeast along the Gulf of Maine, is not as productive a place to catch herring as management area 1A, which hugs the Maine shoreline.
“It’s not a big deal,” Cousens said of the herring fishery closure.
Last year, according to figures from the Maine Department of Marine Resources, fishermen brought in 44,579 metric tons of Atlantic herring, or nearly 100 million pounds. At 16 cents a pound, the fishery was valued at $15.39 million — more money than ever before, and double what it was worth in 2009.
Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News