Area 1A quota at 100%

November 28, 2007

CHOIR Update

While the fishery in Area 1A was officially closed for the year on October 25th, this week NMFS reported on the NOAA IVR website that the quota had officially reached the 100% mark.

The good news is that because of the Buffer Zone that was in place throughout the summer months and other factors, the 1A season quota lasted longer than in 2006- despite the fact that this year the quota was 10,000mt lower. (In 2006 the quota hit the 50,000mt mark over a month earlier than this season.)Had the herring fishery not doubled its pre-June quota, the fishery would have lasted longer.

The longer the season, the more bait that is available to the lobster fleet later in the season when the lobsters are crawling.

Click here for more landings information

The bad news is that reporting problems are still apparent within the herring fleet. The fact that it took almost a month for the agency to tally the landings speaks to these problems. NMFS ackowledges the issues on the IVR site, saying, “During this fishing year, a substantial number of herring vessels have not reported their catch in an accurate and timely manner, as required, through the IVR system.” In the end, the IVR landings underreported, according the NOAA IVR website, roughly 3,500 mt of fish.

All of this continues to grow the concern that many people have with the herring reporting system in general.Hopefully the NEFMC and NMFS will take action to address these problems in the coming years.

To view the Herring IVR website, Click here and then click on ‘Atlantic Herring’ on the left side of the webpage.