East Coast fishermen are bracing for what could be the tightest catch limits in history for Atlantic herring, a keystone species whose population nosedive since 2020 is rippling through the Atlantic fisheries ecosystem.
Last week, scientists working for the New England Fishery Management Council endorsed a record-low catch cap of 2,710 metric tons of Atlantic herring for 2025 with hopes of avoiding full collapse of the nutrient-dense forage fish.
The new catch limits, if adopted by NOAA Fisheries, would be a 43 percent drop from the previous record-low cap of 4,814 tons in 2022.
Some have said such a restriction would effectively end the Atlantic herring fishery, rendering it a bycatch species without a viable market. Almost all ocean herring today is sold as lobster bait, with only a fraction going for human consumption.
