The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts met via webinar on July 17 to discuss the start date for the 2026 Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery. The Board members previously set the start date for July 19 at 6:00 p.m. as part of days out measures discussed in April 2026 (press release here). The additional meeting was scheduled after some industry members reported a significant increase in bait from the menhaden fishery and imported bait from the Canadian weir fishery on the market. As a result, there are…
Management Measures and Pending Actions
A list of proposed regulatory changes or management actions currently under consideration by the Commission.
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The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts met September 19 via webinar to set effort control measures for the 2024 Area 1A fishery for Season 2 (October 1 – December 31).
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The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts met December 15 via webinar to set effort control measures for the 2025 Area 1A fishery for Season 2 (October 1 – December 31) following an increase in available quota for Area 1A. The 2025 Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (sub-ACL) is now 2,317 metric tons due to implementation of the new 2025-2027 specifications package. After accounting for the fixed gear set-aside, 2025 landings so far from Area 1A, and the 8% buffer (Area 1A closes at 92% of the sub-ACL), there are…
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The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts met December 15 via webinar to set effort control measures for the 2025 Area 1A fishery for Season 2 (October 1 – December 31) following an increase in available quota for Area 1A. The 2025 Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (sub-ACL) is now 2,317 metric tons due to implementation of the new 2025-2027 specifications package. After accounting for the fixed gear set-aside, 2025 landings so far from Area 1A, and the 8% buffer (Area 1A closes at 92% of the sub-ACL), there are…
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This memorandum announces closure dates for the Western Maine and Massachusetts/New Hampshire spawning areas; and days out measures for the 2025 Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) Atlantic herring fishery for Season 2 (October 1 – December 31).
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The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts met November 19 via webinar to set effort control measures for the 2025 Area 1A fishery for Season 2 (October 1 – December 31) following an increase in available quota for Area 1A. The 2025 Area 1A sub-annual catch limit (sub-ACL) is now 1,783 metric tons (mt) due to the reallocation of 1,000 mt to the Area 1A sub-ACL based on catch information from the Canadian New Brunswick weir fishery.
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The Coastal Sharks Management Board adopted coastal shark specifications for the 2026 fishing year based on the default federal regulations for Atlantic coastal shark fisheries. Effective January 1, 2024, NOAA Fisheries changed the federal regulations for Atlantic shark fisheries for the 2024 and future fishing years to automatically open the commercial fishing year on January 1 of each year under the base quotas and default retention limits.
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This is an update on Season 2 (October 1 – December 31) of the 2025 Area 1A fishery for Atlantic herring. In September 2025 (Memorandum 25-81), the Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts decided the fishery would be set at zero landing days from October 1 through November 4 and would only open for landing days on November 5 if one or both of the following quota adjustments occur: reallocation of 1,000 metric tons based on landings from the Canadian New Brunswick weir fishery and/or revised quotas implemented by NOAA Fisheries. Due to the lapse…
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