Paul J. Diodati Director

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries 251 Causeway Street, Suite 400 Boston, MA 02114 (617) 626.1520 Fax (617) 626.1509

Deval Patrick Governor Ian Bowles Secretary Mary B. Griffin Commissioner

September 26, 2008
MarineFisheries Advisory

At a September 24th meeting of the Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine delegations of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Section, the following measures were agreed upon for the sea herring fishery in Management Area 1A (see map below):

Directed commercial fishing is prohibited except on: Wednesday, October 1st Wednesday, October 8th Wednesday, October 15th Tuesday, October 21st Wednesday, October 22nd Tuesday, October 28th Wednesday October 29th Tuesday, November 4th Wednesday, November 5th Tuesday, November 11th Wednesday, November 12th During the closure days, vessels participating in other fisheries may retain an incidental catch of herring that does not exceed more than 2,000 lbs of herring per trip.

These actions retain the current Thursday through Sunday no-fishing days while adding additional days-out. Fishermen are also reminded of the default spawning closure that went into effect on September 21st. Landing and possession of sea herring caught from the MA/NH Spawning Area will remain unlawful through October 18th.

For further information please visit our website at www.mass.gov/marinefisheries.