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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 4
December 2006
Area 1A closes to herring boats; bait, canning supplies tighten up
KENNEBUNK, ME – Bait dealers from Maine to Gloucester were scrambling to get bait for the lobster fishery as herring boats everywhere tied up following the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) announcement that 95% of the total allowable catch (TAC) of Area 1A herring would be harvested by Oct. 21 and the fishery in the area would be limited to bycatch levels.
By early November, Portland bait dealers were reporting very tight supplies of herring with redfish hard to come by and prices way up. Frozen bait or previously landed salted barrels of herring were going to dealers in southern Maine.
With Area 1A closed to high-volume herring harvest, the alternative was to move offshore. But that wasn’t working out.
Dave Ellenton of Cape Seafoods Inc. in Gloucester said his company’s vessels had reported steaming over hundreds of miles of fish as they headed out to Area 1B, but then found nothing once they got there.
“No one is seeing any fish in Area 1B,” he said. “Everyone is tied to the wharf.”
Ellenton observed that the boats normally wouldn’t be in Area 1B at this time.
Kevin Lovejoy, a Downeast bait dealer based in Columbia, ME, said he’d been hauling fish out of Campobello, New Brunswick.
Added Wyatt Anderson at O’Hara Bait in Rockland, “We have some frozen pogies, but our boats went out fishing on a Friday (Nov. 3) and came back in and tied up on Sunday.”
Chad Martin of Little Bay Lobster Co. in Newington, NH said that while bait availability “remained tight,” bait supplies for offshore lobster vessels were “generally adequate.”
He added that, given the number of factors affecting the fishery, the company’s vessels were not fishing for herring at this time and intended to go mackerel fishing at the beginning of the New Year.
Vessel owners and bait dealers were in agreement that the fish that had been in Area 1B seemed to disappear after the high-wind storm that blew through the region during the last weekend of October.
Many vessels were waiting for things to settle down before going back out to Area 1B or to Georges Bank, especially with the high cost of fuel.
Next year?
Lobstermen were reporting that the bait supply was holding up, but knew the situation might change.
“I think the lobster industry will be OK in Maine this year because things are winding down, and there is some bait around whether it’s fresh or frozen herring, pogies, or redfish,” said Pat White of York, ME, a lobsterman and Maine Lobstermen’s Association board member.
But while this year should be OK, White said there could be a serious problem next year. That could be the case if the Area 1A TAC is cut back.
Bill Adler, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, agreed.
“I haven’t heard too many complaints right now because of the lack of herring, (since) the fishing days are dwindling and weather is starting to deteriorate,” he said.
Adler added that a lot of his guys were fishing on soft bottom and, since the sea fleas devour the herring, a lot of them were using fish cuttings and skins that last more than one day.
“I am more worried about next year,” he said. “What if the quota is caught by September and lobstering is going full bore?”
Canning supply low
From a canner’s perspective, the herring supply situation has been “miserable,” according to Al West of Stinson Seafood in Prospect Harbor, ME.
Stinson’s hadn’t seen a boat come in to land since late September. A small amount of fish was being landed in Canada, but the quality wasn’t there for canning, West said.
“We went from our largest production week of the year to one of the smallest, using mostly frozen inventory,” he said. “It has cut our production by 60%.”
Rosanne Mizzoni
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