April 18, 2018 — As regulators consider alternatives to management of the Atlantic herring fishery — which extends from North Carolina to Maine — fishermen are cautiously hoping for a better year than recent ones.
In 2017, the New England Fishery Management Council released options that could affect the industry that provides food for consumption, fish oil and bait. The council will make a final decision this summer about possible changes regarding fishery catches and potential closures to address concerns about localized depletion and user conflicts.
Variation in the fishery, in terms of volume, area and season, is not uncommon, but what drives the swings depends on whom you ask.
In 2016, fishermen (mostly from Maine and Massachusetts) hit 60.4 percent of quota when they hauled in about 140 million pounds of herring — the lowest since 2002. But dockside, the catch was worth more than $28.8 million, among the highest value totals on record. In 2017, preliminary NOAA estimates indicate just 48.2 percent of herring’s annual catch limit was harvested from a quota just over 226 million pounds.
Read the full story at National Fisherman