Fishing industry regulators have voted to sharply reduce the amount of herring that can be caught in New England waters next year -- something which has prompted concern among Maine's lobstermen, who often use herring as bait. The New England Fishery Management Council, which is meeting in Newport, Rhode Island, this week, accepted the advice of the experts from the Science and Statistical Committee, which was recently authorized by Congress to look at herring numbers.

"Last year's total allowable catch out of the herring fishery was 145,000 metric tons," says New England Fishery Management Council spokeswoman Pat Fiorelli. Fiorelli says the council chose an allowable biological catch -- or ABC -- limit for next year of 106,000 metric tons, a decline of nearly 27 percent. That decision, designed to protect the species, was near the higher end of the spectrum. "The range of ABCs that the Science and Statistical Committee recommended, ranged from 90,000 metric tons up to 108," Fiorelli says.

"From our point of view the important thing was the process, and that the council respects the advice it gets from its science committee, and they did that," says Peter Baker, Atlantic Herring Campaign Manager with the Pew Environmental Group, which describes itself as 'the conservation arm' of the Pew Charitable Trusts. He's also Director of the Herring Alliance Coalition.

"The process that the council works under of staying within the scientific recommendations is the most likely way we're going to have of having a healthy herring population," Baker says.

I"m very concerned about the cutbacks, but hopefully we can find something to fill in the gap," says lobsterman Larry Grant. Grant's been who's been a lobsterman for 51 years, and herring is his preferred bait. He currently operates out of Yarmouth. "To cut back on what we can use is not going to be good."

Last month the Maine Lobstermen's Association warned it may run out of lobster bait as early as next August if the herring catch is cutback as severely as some scientists were proposing.

In the end says Pat Fiorelli of the New England Fishery Management Council, the cuts were not quite that severe - but she still expects the lobster industry to suffer. "The supply of herring to support the lobster fishery will be impacted, there's no question about it."

Peter Baker from the Pew Environmental Group points out, however, that the total herring catch for all New England waters is still substantially more than the overall amount of fish landed last year. "Last year the entire catch of the fleet was only 88,000 tons. And next year they're going to be allowed to catch 106,000 tons. So the overall catch of what's actually coming to shore probably won't drop."

That's likely to be little consolation for Maine-based herring trawlermen and the lobstermen who buy their fish. Inshore catch limits in the Gulf of Maine are being cut the most, says Baker, as that is where stock is considered most vulnerable.
Next year the herring quota for Maine waters will go from nearly 44,000 tons to just over 25,000.