Notice to Atlantic Herring Fishery: Closure of Area 2 Directed Fishery in State and Federal Waters

Effective 00:01 April 15th, 2009 it is unlawful to fish, take, transport or land Atlantic Herring taken from Management Area 2 in the State of Maine. This restriction shall be in place until 23:59 December 31st, 2009, dates inclusive. This provision does not prevent the landing, offloading, or transport of Atlantic Herring harvested from any other Management Area, nor the landing of incidental catch of Herring in other non directed fisheries.

Herring Area 2 is defined as:

South Coastal Area: All waters west of 70º 00' W Longitude and south of 41º 35' N Latitude, 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.

Exemptions:

Any vessels may land or offload Herring in the State of Maine as incidental catch as long as such herring do not comprise more than 10% of the total weight of the catch not to exceed 2000 lbs per trip per day.

Federal Notice:

"The National Marine Fisheries Service announces that effective 0001 hours, April 15 2009, Atlantic herring Management Area 2 will be closed to herring vessels for the remainder of the 2009 herring fishing year. Herring vessels may not declare or initiate a herring trip to Area 2 after 0001 hours, April 15 2009. If a vessel has declared a trip into Area 2 using the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) code HER-HER-XX, and has crossed the VMS demarcation line before 0001 hours on April 15, 2009, the vessel may complete the trip and retain and land herring caught from Area 2. Please contact the Sustainable Fisheries Division at 978-281-9315 with questions."

For more details, please contact your local Marine Patrol Division Headquarters (Div. I 633-9595, Div. II 667-3373) or your local marine patrol officer.

DEPT. OF MARINE RESOURCES

Notice to Atlantic Herring Fishery: Closure of Area 2 Directed Fishery in State and Federal Waters