This Conservation Harvesting Plan (CHP) presents the management measures for herring licence holders using mobile gear (purse seine) and vessels greater than 19.81 metres (large seiners).
New management measures for 2022
At-Sea Observer Program:
The minimum sampling coverage of the At-Sea Observer Program is 100%.
Spring spawner by-catch limits:
The fall fishery for the large seiners will be closed for the season when either of the following occurs:
- exceeding 10% of spring spawner by-catch per fishing trip for two consecutive trips, or
- a total amount of 25 t of spring spawner by-catch has been caught.
Fishing Gear Reporting System (or Lost Gear Reporting)
A new online system was launched in July 2021 to allow commercial harvesters to conveniently input lost and retrieved gear information from any smart electronic device. The system is able to capture information such as descriptions, cause of loss and location of the lost gear. Harvesters can create their account and begin reporting through the system at this website: Fishing Gear Reporting System.
Discarding Waste
All commercial fisheries in Canada have a new condition of licence relating to the discharge of garbage from Canadian fishing vessels. The licence holder/operator is prohibited from discarding in Canadian fisheries waters from their vessel any time that may be harmful to fish or fish habitat. Refer to the Notice to Fish Harvesters sent on April 7, 2022 for further details: Commercial fishery requirements.
Other management measures
For further information on fishing requirements and restrictions, licence holders must refer to their licence conditions.
- The percentage of the spring spawners will be monitored for each fishing trip using a scientific protocol to determine catch composition (see Annex 1).
- The purse seine fishery is subject to the small fish protocol.
- The logbook is mandatory and must be completed on each fishing day.
- Any allocation overrun in a given year is reconciled against the following season allocation.
- All vessels must be equipped with an operational Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) during their fishing activities.
Spring fishing season: May 1st to June 30th
Fishing activities are authorized only in the northern part of HFA 16D called the Edge (see Chart 1).
Summer and fall fishing season: July 1st to December 31st
Fishing restrictions:
From January 1st to December 31st, fishing is prohibited in a portion of Herring Fishing Area 16G off the northeast coast of Prince Edward Island (see Chart 2).
From January 1st to December 31st, fishing is prohibited west of the line between Grande-Anse, New Brunswick and Paspébiac, Quebec (see Chart 3).
From August 1st to 31st, fishing is prohibited inside Chaleurs Bay (see Chart 3).
Allocation - fall spawners: 3,440 t
A cap of 50 per cent of the fall spawners allocation (1,720 t) is allowed to be caught inside the Chaleurs Bay.
ANNEX 1
Scientific Protocol to Identify the Spring Spawner Component during the Herring Fall Fishery
The following biological sampling of herring is required for each landing by the Gulf purse seine fleet during the fall fishery:
- A total of at least 200 herrings, randomly selected, must be sampled for each trip.
- In the event no DFOs port samplers are available to collect the fish at landing, all the herring samples taken should be placed in a few well-identified plastic bags then inside a sample box. Requested information must be recorded directly on the box. Each box should be frozen as quickly as possible and stored.
- All pertinent information, such as the vessel name, date and time of the catch, fishing area, and especially the position coordinates (latitude /longitude) where the herring was caught must be provided.
- If a port sampler is available, DFO is responsible for transporting the samples to the Gulf Fishery Centre in Moncton (GFC). Otherwise, the fishers will be responsible for shipping the frozen samples to the GFC.
- A logbook form must be filled out for each trip.
CHART 1
Northern portion of Herring Fishing Area 16D named the Edge (area in blue).
Definition of the northern portion of Herring Fishing Area 16D named the Edge
During the period May 1st to June 30th, purse seine fishing is restricted to the waters enclosed by rhumb lines (similar to straight lines drawn on a nautical chart) joining the following points in the order they are listed:
| Points | Latitude north | Longitude west |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 48°42’00” N | 62°32’00” W |
| 2 | 47°50’00” N | 60°00’00” W |
| 3 | 47°11’06” N | 60°20’07” W |
| 4 | 47°11’06” N | 60°35’52” W |
| 5 | 47°51’33” N | 61°10’07” W |
| 6 | 48°09’33” N | 62°32’02” W |
Note: When the geographic boundary of an area is expressed in latitude and longitude, these point references are based on the geodesic system North American Datum 1927 (NAD27). The positions are expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds.
CHART 2
Portion of Herring Fishing Area 16G located off northeast PEI
Definition of the closed portion of Herring Fishing Area 16G
This portion of HFA 16 is closed to herring fishing from April 1st to June 30th to vessels using fixed gear and from January 1st to December 31st to vessels using a purse seine. This portion of HFA 16G is defined as the waters enclosed by the coastline and rhumb lines (similar to straight lines drawn on a nautical chart) connecting the following points in the order they are listed below:
| Points | Latitude north | Longitude west |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 46°25'00" N | 63°06'00" O |
| 2 | 46°33'00" N | 63°06'00" O |
| 3 | 46°35'00" N | 61°47'00" O |
| 4 | 46°27'00" N | 61°43'00" O |
| 5 | 46°23'30" N | 61°50'45" O |
| 6 | 46°26'55" N | 61°58'25" O |
Note: When the geographic boundary of an area is expressed in latitude and longitude, these point references are based on the geodesic system North American Datum 1927 (NAD27). The positions are expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds.
CHART 3
Line from Grande-Anse to Paspébiac and the Chaleurs Bay boundary line
Definition of the line from Grande-Anse to Paspébiac
Between January 1st and December 31st, it is prohibited to fish herring with a vessel using purse seine in the waters enclosed by the coastline and rhumb lines (similar to straight lines drawn on a nautical chart) joining the following points in the order in which they are listed:
| Points | Latitude north | Longitude west |
|---|---|---|
| A | 48º01’00" N | 65º14’40" O |
| B | 47º49’00" N | 65º11’00" O |
Note: When the geographic boundary of an area is expressed in latitude and longitude, these point references are based on the geodesic system North American Datum 1927 (NAD27). The positions are expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds.
Definition of inside the Chaleurs Bay
Inside the Chaleurs Bay is defined as the waters enclosed by the coastline and rhumb lines (similar to straight lines drawn on a nautical chart) joining the following points in the order in which they are listed:
| Points | Latitude north | Longitude west |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 47°24'00" N | 64°54'00" O |
| 2 | 48°02'00" N | 64°04'00" O |
| 3 | 48°52'00" N | 64°04'00" O |
| 4 | 48°52'00" N | 64°12'00" O |
Note: When the geographic boundary of an area is expressed in latitude and longitude, these point references are based on the geodesic system North American Datum 1927 (NAD27). The positions are expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds.