Report Run on: 2018-09-20
Quota Year: 2018 (January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018)


Area Quota (mt) Cumulative Catch (mt) Percent Quota Caught
1A 27,743 18,845.4 67.9%
1B 2,639 430.9 16.3%
2 8,200 6,702.1 81.7%
3 11,318 2,904.7 25.7%
Total 49,900 28,883.1 57.9%

1Area 1A quota excludes 295 mt set-aside for the fixed gear fisheries west of Cutler, ME
2If New Brunswick weir fishery catch through October 1 is less than 4,000 mt, then 1,000 mt will be added to the ACL and Area 1A Sub-ACL

Effective August 22, 2018: NOAA Fisheries reduced the sub-annual catch limits for the four Atlantic Herring Management Areas for the rest of 2018. The reductions are based on the most recent stock assessment, which shows that the herring stock is in decline due to historic lows in recruitment over the past five years.

The Atlantic herring fishery is monitored using data provided by herring-permitted vessels (VMS catch reports and VTRs) and Federal/state dealer data. VMS catch reports will be used to verify and determine catch when VTR and/or dealer records are unavailable, but VTR and dealer reports, once received, will determine final catch by area.

Catch reporting requirements are as follows: Limited access herring vessels report catch daily via VMS, open access herring vessels report catch weekly via the IVR system, and all herring-permitted vessels submit VTRs weekly. Failure to submit reports has resulted in vessels being referred to the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement for investigation. For questions regarding Atlantic herring management, please contact the Sustainable Fisheries Division at 978-281-9315. For guidance on the most recent notification and reporting requirements please click here.


These data are the best available to NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) when this report was compiled. Data for this report are supplied to NMFS from vessels via the Vessel Monitoring System. Data may be preliminary. Discrepancies with previous reports are due to corrections made to the database.