Current through Register No. 40, October 3, 2024
(a) "Sea herring"
means that species of Atlantic sea herring known as Clupea harengus.
(b) "Management Area" means one of four
Management Areas as specified in the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
Commission's Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic
Herring.
(1)
Management Area
1: All U.S. waters of the Gulf of Maine north of a line extending
from the eastern shore of Monomoy Island at 41º 35' N latitude, 70°
00' W longitude, thence northeasterly to a point along the Hague Line at
42º 53' 14" N latitude, 67º 44' 35" W longitude, thence northerly
along the Hague Line to the U.S. Canadian border, to include state and Federal
waters adjacent to the States of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.
Management Area 1 is divided into Area 1A (inshore) and Area 1B (offshore). The
line dividing these areas is described by the following coordinates.
|
N Latitude
|
W Longitude
|
|
41° 58´
|
70° 00´ at Cape Cod shoreline
|
|
42° 38´
|
70° 00´
|
|
42° 53´
|
69° 40´
|
|
43° 12´
|
69° 00´
|
|
43° 40´
|
68° 00´
|
|
43° 58´
|
67° 22´ (the U.S.-Canada Maritime
Boundary)
|
(2)
Management Area 2: All waters west and south of the
Cape Cod shoreline at 70° 00' W longitude, to include state and Federal
waters adjacent to the States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New
York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.
(3)
Management Area
3: All U.S. waters east of 70° 00' W longitude and southeast
of the line that runs from a point at 70° 00' W longitude and 41º 35'
N latitude, northeasterly to the Hague Line at 67º 44' 35" W longitude and
42º 53' 14" N latitude.
(4)
Management area map:
Click here
to view
(c)
Spawning sea herring
protection.
(1)
Massachusetts/New Hampshire Spawning Area. Massachusetts/New Hampshire Spawning
Area means all waters north of Cape Cod bounded by the Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, and Maine coasts and 43°30' N latitude and 70°00' W
longitude.
Massachusetts/New Hampshire Spawning Area
Map:
Click here
to view
(2)
During the period September 23 through November 3:
a. No person shall fish for, take, or possess
unprocessed sea herring within the jurisdiction of New Hampshire, except as in
(7), below and
b. No person shall
possess or land sea herring taken from the Massachusetts/New Hampshire Spawning
Area except as in (7) below.
(3)
Closure Timing.
To protect spawning sea herring, the executive director may modify the dates in
(2) when it is determined that sea herring are in later stages of maturity just
prior to spawning based on a formula and process set forth in Section 4.2.6 of
the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Amendment 3 of the Interstate
Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Herring as modified by Addendum II to
Amendment 3 of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic
Herring.
(4)
Closure
Duration. Once the closure is enacted in (3), it shall remain in
effect for 42 days.
(5)
Closure Extension. The closure in (2), (3), and (4)
shall be extended an additional 14 days if one sample taken from the
Massachusetts/New Hampshire Closure Area is comprised of 20% or more spawn sea
herring. Sample means a batch of 100 adult sea herring taken randomly from
commercial catch or fish surveys during the last week of the initial closure
period or at the end of the initial closure period. Spawn sea herring means
mature sea herring in ICNAF gonadal stages V and VI.
(6)
Closure
Procedure. The initial closure date shall be announced via notice
by the executive director at least 5-days prior to the closure being enacted
and any closure extension shall be announced via notice by the executive
director immediately to be enacted the day following the
announcement.
(7) During a spawning
closure as specified in (1) through (5), all vessels fishing for species other
than sea herring shall be limited to an incidental catch of 2000 pounds of sea
herring per calendar day caught in or from the management area subject to a
spawning closure.
(d)
State Permit. Any person, firm or organization engaged
in the taking or landing of sea herring for the purpose of sale, trade, or
barter shall first obtain a commercial saltwater license pursuant to
RSA
211:49-a or
RSA
211:49-b and a permit to take sea herring in
accordance with
Fis
609.02 from the executive director, provided that:
(1) Any person, firm or organization properly
permitted may land sea herring from areas not under spawning closures provided
they are equipped with a functional vessel monitoring system, and;
(2) Nothing in the above provisions shall
prohibit a person from possessing sea herring for use as bait while in the
normal conduct of tending lobster and crab pots or any sea herring used as bait
for angling purposes.
(e) General Protective Conditions:
(1) No person shall land, transfer, or
transport sea herring taken from a management area or sub-area closed to a
directed sea herring fishery to an internal waters processing
operation;
(2) No person shall land
sea herring taken from a management area following notice from the executive
director that 92% of the area's seasonal or sub- annual catch limit will be
exceeded or if 95% of the coastwide annual catch limit will be exceeded, except
that a person may land and possess up to a maximum of 2,000 pounds of
incidentally caught sea herring; and
(3) No person or vessel shall land sea
herring more than once per calendar day.
(f) Specific Protective Conditions:
(1) If the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
Commission's Atlantic herring section commissioners from New Hampshire, Maine
and Massachusetts at a public meeting project that the seasonal or sub-annual
catch limit of the management area will be exceeded without the imposition of
"no landing days" and/or "weekly landing limits" controls, the executive
director shall impose the number of "no landing days" and the "weekly landing
limit for vessels" approved by a consensus of the commissioners.
(2) If the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
Commission's Atlantic herring section commissioners from New Hampshire, Maine
and Massachusetts acting in a public meeting cannot reach consensus on the
number of no landing days, the executive director shall establish seven "no
landing days" for New Hampshire.
(3) Vessels holding a federal "all areas
limited access herring permit" pursuant to
50 CFR 648.4(a)(10)
(iv)(A)(1), also known as a "Category A
permit" shall:
a. Notify the executive
director of their intent to fish in Management Area 1A and their gear type 45
days prior to the June 1 through September 30 fishing season; and
b. Adhere to the "no landing days" and
"weekly landing limits for vessels" imposed pursuant to this section.
(4) Vessels holding a federal
"limited access incidental catch herring permit" issued pursuant to
50 CFR
648.4(a)(10)(iv)(A)(3), also
known as a "Category C permit" or a federal "open access herring permit" issued
pursuant to
50 CFR
648.4(a)(10)(vi), also known
as a "Category D permit" shall:
a. Notify the
executive director of their intent to fish in Management Area 1A with
small-mesh bottom trawl gear prior to June 1; and
b. Adhere to the "no landing days" imposed
pursuant to this section.
(5) The imposition of "no landing days" and
"weekly landing limit" controls shall be announced via notice by the executive
director.
(6) Carrier vessels,
defined as a vessel that has received herring from another vessel and will not
report that catch as its own on its Federal Vessel Trip Report, may not land
sea herring caught from Herring Management Area 1A.
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