Gulf of Maine Atlantic Herring Tagging Project    F/V Sunlight Project Description Atlantic herring (Clupea harrengus) is one of the most biologically and economically important species in the western Atlantic. Herring are oceanic plankton-feeding fish that occur in large schools, inhabiting coastal and continental shelf waters from Labrador to Cape Hatteras. Adults (age 3+) migrate south from summer/fall spawning grounds in the Gulf of Maine to winter off southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. Important commercial fisheries for juvenile herring (ages 1 to 2) existed from the 19th century through the 1980’s along the coasts of Maine and New Brunswick. The development of large-scale fisheries for adult herring is comparatively recent, primarily occurring seasonally in the Gulf of Maine, on Georges Bank, and in southern New England waters. In addition to their commercial value, herring are an important food source for many species of fish, mammals, and sea birds. Commercial landings are currently around 200 million pounds of which 60 percent goes to the lobster bait market and 40 percent to canneries and freezer plants.  There have been several Atlantic herring tagging projects in the past, however the herring fishery has changed significantly since the last tagging effort in US waters (1970-1982). Mobile gear (purse seine and mid water trawl vessels) fishing pressure on the inshore stock component has increased, herring have largely moved away from nearshore coastal waters, and the Georges Bank stock component has recovered from its collapse of the 1970’s.   Traditionally, two stocks of herring have been recognized in the Gulf of Maine region.  Within each of these stocks are a presumed number of discrete spawning units. However, the US stocks are assessed together as one unit for management purposes. A tagging project was designed by the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) in 2001 to identify stock discreteness, exploitation rates and reevaluate quota allocation in order to address research objectives proposed by the New England Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The original project was designed using coded wire tags but, due to problems with the detection units, this method was abandoned in favor of anchor tags at the end of 2002 (for a more complete description of the decision process please refer to the 2002 annual report). With the project infrastructure in place and the experience gained over the preceding two field seasons, activities in 2003 centered on tagging and releasing as many herring as possible in southern New England and the Gulf of Maine.

• Project design

• Field Methodology

• Results
  - 2006 Fishermen's Forum presentation - PPT file, 9.9mb
  - 2006 Fishermen's Forum presentation - pdf file, 2.1 mb
  - 2006 Annual Report -Word doc, 3.4 mb
  - 2005 Annual Report -Word doc, 2.4 mb
  - 2004 Annual Report -
    - For a printable version please click here - 2004 Report - pdf file You will need Adobe Reader to view this
  - 2003 Annual Report - pdf file, 320 kb
  - 2002 Annual Report - pdf file, 1.6 mb

• Tag Return map

• What to do if you get a tagged herring?

• Tag Return Poster

• Links to Sites of interest

 

PROJECT DESIGN

Several tagging strategies designed to identify stock discreetness and spawning site fidelity were attempted between 2001 and 2002.  During that time the study focused exclusively on tagging of spawning aggregations.  This approach eliminated flexibility and resulted in difficulty and sometimes a total inability to obtain herring.  Based on these preliminary trials, it was determined that future tagging should occur over broader groupings of space and time thereby increasing project flexibility.  This adopted strategy allowed a more opportunistic approach to tagging in 2003 while still classifying tagged herring into meaningful groups based on behavior and location. 

Atlantic herring exhibit annual coast-wide migration patterns that range from Canadian waters to the mid-Atlantic.  Therefore, tagging events and tag returns have to be categorized in the context of space and time. 

Spatial strata include the geographic areas where tagging events occur and also encompass the areas to which returns are attributed.  The following spatial strata were identified as potential tagging and/or recovery areas for the Atlantic herring-tagging project.

  Geographic Areas (spatial context): 

Canada    A.   New Brunswick (NB)    B.   Nova Scotia (NS) Gulf of Maine    C.   Eastern Gulf of Maine (EGOM)    D.   Western Gulf of Maine (WGOM)    E.   Massachusetts (MA)    F.   Offshore Gulf of Maine (OGOM) Georges Bank (GB) Southern New England (SNE)

Click map for larger version

The temporal context of the tagging and recovery events is also important.  Atlantic herring exhibit distinct behavioral patterns at different times of the year that must be considered in the project design and analysis. The groupings outlined below are largely based on tagging work done by DMR in the 1970s and 1980s.

 

Seasonal Groupings (temporal context):  

1. Spring migration (SM):                          April-June

2. Summer feeding/spawning (SFS):          July-October

3. Fall migration (FM):                              November-December

4. Winter feeding (WF):                            January-March

It is important to recognize that these strata are designed to define general seasonal patterns.  For example, the SFS stratum does not specifically represent spawning times for each discreet group of herring, but encompasses the entire range of spawning events.

 

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Herring are obtained aboard commercial purse seine vessels or by contracting mid-water trawl vessels. Two insulated, 3x4x4’ xactix boxes were modified by incorporating a standpipe, drainage hole, and inlet/outlet linkages for connection to a submersible pump.(link to picture of xactic) This modified box was used aboard purse seine vessels and followed the protocol described below. 

1. The seine was set and dried up until about ½ of the net remained in the water.  At this point herring generally started schooling near the starboard side of the vessel. 

2. Herring schooling near the vessel were dip-netted out of the seine and put into the modified xactix tanks.  Numbers of herring in the tank ranged from 50-500 during tagging operations, however 300 seemed to be an ideal concentration.  Herring were generally not netted out of the “pocket” and transferred to the holding tank.  The survival rate for fish at this stage of the harvesting process was determined to be extremely low because of the increased stress and significant scale loss.

3. Herring were handled individually with bare hands, which seemed to result in minimal damage to the fish.  Tagged fish were selected for fitness and percent scale cover.  Generally herring with more then 20% scale loss were not tagged because of an assumed high incidence of delayed mortality.

Tagged herring were immediately released over the port side of the vessel.  Predation did not appear to be a significant problem if tagging operations took place at night.  

For tagging trips that occurred on mid-water trawl vessels an Aquarium codend (link to picture of codend) was used and followed this procedure: 

1. Aquarium codend was secured to the existing codend of the mid-water trawl net. 

2. The unit was filled with water and then deployed.  The net was set in a normal fashion and fished for 10-20 minutes at a shallow depth (6-10 fathoms).

3. The net was brought back onto the vessel and the aquarium codend was opened.  Herring were tagged directly from the aquarium codend and released immediately.

For this project DMR uses spaghetti tags that are inserted into the herring with a hand held tag gun. The tag is inserted just below and even with the dorsal fin. The tag color is either Pink or Yellow and is labeled with a tag # and an address to send the tag to.(link to poster)

Tagging from aquarium codend

Tag gun

 

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Project Results

2002:

Field tagging events occurred over the course of the late summer and fall in the Gulf of Maine.  DMR personnel spent 20 days on board herring purse seiners in an attempt to tag and release live fish from pre-spawning aggregations. In addition to tagging herring from purse seine vessels in 2002, a method was developed to capture live herring with mid-water trawl gear.  An aquarium codend was borrowed by DMR from NMFS and trialed for three days. A total of just over four thousand herring were tagged in 2002. (See 2002 Annual report)

Applying tags

2003: The first field-tagging event of 2003 occurred in late April off of Block Island, RI. Tagging trips then started again in June and continued through October in the Gulf Of Maine.  The following table shows the number and type of all tagging trips taken in 2003.

Future

The continuation of the current Atlantic herring-tagging project run by the Maine Department of Marine Resources has the potential to provide up to date information on fishing mortality, spawning site fidelity, stock intermixing, and migration patterns. This information can then be used to help develop a long term sustainable Fisheries Management Plan for the Atlantic herring. Since the last major tagging effort in U.S. waters occurred from 1970-1982 there is a definite need to obtain up to date information through a new tagging program. It is in the best interest of the Atlantic herring industry to obtain an accurate assessment of current stocks, and the Maine DMR tagging project can provide this data at a reasonable cost.

 

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What to do if you get a tagged herring? 

If you get a tagged herring please print and fill out the return form below with all the required information.

Click here for printable Return Form

If you can not print this form please hand write the required information (below) and return to the address listed below.

Maine Department of Marine Resources
Herring Tagging Program
Return Form 

Reward Annual Drawing for $1000 U.S. 

Tag Number ___________                                         Tape Tag Here
Date of Catch __________
Location of Catch ________________________________________ 

Name, Address and Phone:________________________________
                                        ________________________________
                                        ________________________________ 

Please Return to: Maine DMR Attn. Kohl Kanwit
                          PO Box 8
                          W Boothbay HBR, Me 04575

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Links of interest : 

www.hallprint.com fish tag supplier
www.gma.org herring info, cod tagging, acoustic research
http://www.asmfc.org/ Atlantic States marine Fisheries Council
http://www.nefmc.org/ Fisheries management
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/index.htm Canadian department of Marine Fisheries

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