April 14, 2020 — Since the late 19th century, New England’s commercial Atlantic herring fishery was tied to both the canning industry and the lobster fishery, and the connections to today’s lucrative lobster industry continue. For this reason, changes in the herring industry have wide-reaching ripple effects.
The 2018 benchmark stock assessment revealed changes to stock health and concerns about trends in recruitment and spawning stock biomass. In fact, 2016 recruitment was the lowest on record at 1.7 million fish.
The 2018 landings, says Kirby Rootes-Murdy of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, were 43,772 metric tons with an ex-vessel value of $23 million. In 2019, the quota was slashed by more than half.
By the end of 2019, preliminary figures say more than 12,700 metric tons of herring were landed, according to Min-Yang Lee of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. The value was $9.45 million.
Suzannah Raber, owner of New England Fish Co, a bait company, says markets have shifted.
“We used to send herring to Canada,” says Raber. “But now, 95 percent of our herring goes to lobster bait. We catch it and distribute it.” These days, Raber’s company targets mackerel this time of year, then goes seining for herring in summer.