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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 11
July 2006
ASMFC wants ‘zero tolerance’ herring closures
HALLOWELL, ME – Maine’s longstanding regulations governing fishing activity during herring spawning closures might be in jeopardy due to a new “zero tolerance” rule adopted by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Atlantic Herring Section.
Back in January, the section voted to include a “zero tolerance” provision in Amendment 2 to its herring plan that prohibits vessels from fishing for, taking, landing, or possessing herring during a spawning closure.
However, different states have interpreted the meaning of “zero tolerance” in different ways.
Most states said zero tolerance meant zero fishing during a spawning closure. But Maine is intending to adopt the Amendment 2 language proclaiming that vessels cannot fish on ”spawn” herring during a closure. Spawn herring is defined in Amendment 2 as “Atlantic herring in ICNAF gonadal stages V and VI”.
In past years, the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) has allowed vessels to operate under a 20% spawning tolerance, letting boats fish during closures as long as less than 20% of the herring onboard were in gonadal stages V and VI.
But at its May 9 meeting, the ASMFC herring section tried for a second time to put an end to that practice. The section voted 3-1-1 to “clarify” its intent that “zero tolerance” in Amendment 2 meant “no directed fishing for herring in the closed areas during spawning closures.”
The section further charged its staff with developing a technical addendum to reflect this very specific “no fishing” intent.
Not a change
According to section Chairman Eric Smith of Connecticut, the section didn’t make any changes in May over what it had agreed to in January.
“We weren’t trying to reinvent the wheel,” said Smith. “We simply wanted to know from the states, ‘What was your intent when you cast your vote in January?’”
The second vote left no ambiguity in the matter.
“They said, ‘The intent was that we don’t want you fishing in a closed area during a closed period,’” explained Smith.
At press time, the technical addendum was under review by section members, who were expected to adopt it by a fax poll.
Big blow
This zero tolerance clarification could have tremendous ramifications for Maine and the way the fleet operates during the peak of summer.
“This would have a huge impact,” said Mary Beth Tooley, executive director of the East Coast Pelagic Association.
Terry Stockwell, DMR’s director of external affairs, said, “It could tie the herring boats up and dry up the lobster bait for no good reason.”
The way it works now, the ASMFC plan contains three distinct spawning closure starting dates that states have incorporated into their own regulations. They are:
Eastern Maine – Aug. 15;
Western Maine – Sept. 1; and
Massachusetts/New Hampshire – Sept. 21.
The dates are automatic defaults that kick off the closures if a sufficient number of samples from the commercial catch aren’t available to determine the actual spawning condition of the fish to better time the closures with actual “ripe and running” fish.
Once triggered, the closures last four weeks – unless further samples contain enough spawn fish to warrant an additional two weeks of closure.
Maine fishermen have supported the state’s spawning regulations because they say the DMR’s extensive sampling program has kept close tabs on true spawning conditions. This has allowed the fleet to keep working during the dead of summer and early fall – a time when the resource is readily available and the demand for lobster bait is at its highest – yet has still protected “ripe and running” spawn herring.
“The state of Maine really puts a lot of resources into monitoring the closures and getting it right,” said Tooley.
Changes coming
According to Stockwell, the DMR held a public hearing on May 22 on a proposed regulation intended to bring Maine into compliance with the zero tolerance provision as written in ASMFC’s Amendment 2. The DMR Advisory Council was scheduled to review the language at its June 21 meeting.
The new regulation would apply to “herring fishermen in the Gulf of Maine who possess a herring permit and Maine commercial license.” It would prohibit vessels from the transfer, landing, or possession of any herring in gonadal stages V and VI during a closure.
In short, the regulation would wipe out the 20% tolerance allowance. However, it would not prohibit boats from fishing.
Whether or not this language will hold up in the eyes of ASMFC remains to be seen, though it was clear that Stockwell and DMR Commissioner George Lapointe were holding firm.
“From our perspective, this keeps us in compliance with the amendment,” said Stockwell.
Although the DMR is moving forward with the change, Stockwell emphasized that the department’s herring sampling program and the 20% tolerance allowance were well monitored, enforced, and supported by the fleet.
“We’ve made the 20% work for us,” he said. “We’ve had the ability and the willingness to enforce it.”
The ASMFC herring section is scheduled to review Amendment 2 “implementation proposals” from the states of Maine through New Jersey during its Aug. 14-17 meeting week. At that point, the section will determine whether individual states are in compliance with the amendment.
Janice M. Plante
ICNAF gonad stages V and VI
The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) defines “spawn herring” using the official gonad stages adopted by the International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF) in 1964.
Under this terminology, a spawn herring is “a sexually mature herring (male or female) in ICNAF gonad stages V or VI.” The gonad stages are defined as follows:
• Stage V – “Gonads fill body cavity. Eggs large, round; some transparent. Ovaries yellowish; testes milk-white. Eggs and sperm do not flow, but sperm can be extruded by pressure.”
• Stage VI – “Ripe gonads. Eggs transparent; testes white; eggs and sperm flow freely.”
Herring in stages V and VI are often referred to as “ripe and running.” /cfn/
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