N.H. Admin. Code § Fis 603.07

Current through Register No. 50, December 12, 2024

Section Fis 603.07 - Sea Herring

(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.

N.H. Admin. Code § Fis 603.07

#1878, eff 12-4-81; ss by #2839, eff 8-31-84; ss by #4868, eff 7-20-90; amd by #5691, eff 9-16-93; ss by #6176, eff 1-27-96; ss by #6440, eff 1-20-97; amd by #6584, eff 9-19-97; rpld (e) by #6602, eff 10-15-97; ss by #6733, eff 4-21-98; amd by #6856, eff 9-24-98; ss by #7215, eff 3-16-00; ss by #7346, eff 8-17-00; amd by #7464, eff 3-23-01; ss by #7702, EXEMPT, eff 6-6-02; ss by #7914, EXEMPT, eff 6-30-03; amd by #8088, EXEMPT, eff 5-24-04; ss by #8303, EXEMPT, eff 4-1-05; ss by #8818, EXEMPT, eff 2-1-07; amd by #9138, EXEMPT, eff 4-23-08; ss by #9468, EXEMPT, eff 5-12-09; amd by #10266, EXEMPT, eff 1-29-13; ss by #10460, EXEMPT, eff 1-1-14

Amended by Volume XXXVI Number 23, Filed June 9, 2016, Proposed by #11109, Effective 5/27/2016.

Amended by Volume XXXVII Number 23, Filed June 8, 2017, Proposed by #12195, Effective 5/31/2017.

Amended by Volume XXXIX Number 37, Filed September 12, 2019, Proposed by #12843, Effective 8/8/2019.