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Herring or sild (Clupea harengus)

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Common name - Herring or sild
Scientific name - Clupea harengus
Rating
  • 1
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Caught at sea Pelagic trawl, Gill net
Capture Area North East Atlantic  FAO 27
Stock Area Bothnian sea
Stock Detail Subdivision 30
Summary
The stock status is good and the highest in the time series - having tripled in the late 80s and increased in trend since. Fishing mortality has been in line with the precautionary approach across the entire time series and discards are negligible. This fishery is currently assessed by ICES as having full reproductive capacity and as harvested sustainably.
Biology
Herring belongs to the same family of fish (clupeids) as sprat and pilchard. It can grow to greater than 40cm, although size differs between 'races' (distinct breeding stocks). Most herring landed are around 25cm. Herring are sexually mature at between 3-9 years (depending on stock) and populations include both spring and autumn spawners. At least one population in UK waters spawns in any one month of the year. Herring have an important role in the marine ecosystem, as a transformer of plankton at the bottom of the food chain to higher trophic or feeding levels, e.g. for cod, seabirds and marine mammals. It is also considered to have a major impact on other fish stocks as prey and predator and is itself prey for seabirds and marine mammals in the North Sea and other areas. Herring spawning and nursery areas are sensitive and vulnerable to anthropogenic or human influences such as sand and gravel extraction.
Stock Information
In the Baltic Sea herring stocks are assessed by ICES and were managed by the International Baltic Sea Fishery Commission (IBSFC) until January 2006. The most important pelagic fish in the Baltic Sea fisheries are herring and sprat. Their distribution varies with season, food availability, hydrography etc. Herring occur throughout the Baltic Sea including the Gulf of Bothnia, Gulf of Finland and Gulf of Riga. Sprat are confined to areas south of the Aaland Islands and are mainly found in the open sea areas. Herring populations include both spring and autumn spawners. Previously, autumn spawning herring dominated the herring populations, but there was a change in the 1960s and since then spring spawning components have dominated the populations. Herring populations form a continuous chain extending from the North Sea to the northernmost parts of the Baltic Sea. In the western Baltic (Sub-divisions 22-24) the spring spawning stock of herring dominates. These herring spawn in the western Baltic Sea, but migrate to feeding areas in the Kattegat, Skagerrak and the eastern part of North Sea, where they mix with the North Sea herring. Both spring and autumn herring can be further divided into two population types - the sea and the coastal or Gulf herring. Within each population there are numerous sub-groups. Herring in the western Baltic (Sub-division 22-24) is assessed as one stock. Herring in the eastern Baltic is assessed as four stocks, i.e. herring in Sub-divisions 25-29 and 32, herring in the Gulf of Riga, herring in Sub-division 30 and herring in Sub-division 31. The herring in the central part of the Baltic Sea (Sub-divisions 25-29+32) is much the largest stock. The separation of stocks is a compromise between the large number of stocks/populations identified on biological basis and the ability to allocate catches to stocks. Also, management of the herring stocks is not possible on population by population basis. In order to protect the stocks IBSFC has reduced the Herring TACs by 46% from 670,000 tonnes in 1998 to 372,000 tonnes in 2001. The Bothnian Sea stock biomass is currently at the highest level since 1973 when the time series began. It has been steadily increasing on average since it increased by a factor of three in the late 1980s. There was a decrease in growth in the 1990s, which was attributed to either density dependent stock factors or the decline in the herrings' main prey, the copepod, Pseudocalanus spp., due to ecological regime shift in the Baltic (1989-1990). The fishing mortality has been below Fpa for the whole of the time series and the stock is assessed as having full reproductive capacity or considered healthy and harvested sustainably.
Capture Information
In the Baltic, herring is mainly exploited in the open sea by pelagic trawls (95%) (single and pair trawls), and in coastal waters during spawning time, by trapnets, pound-nets and gillnets. The small-scale gillnet fishery is important in coastal waters in Sweden but is suffering from a lack of large herring. Larger and more effective trawls have been introduced in the 1990s. Also large mature herring are preferred by a grey seals whose population has increased in the Bothnian Sea. Static nets in the Baltic are known to impact the harbour porpoise population, grey seals and a variety of diving waterbirds, and pelagic trawls can be associated with cetacean bycatch. This fishery generates negligible discards.The minimum landing size for herring in EU waters is 20cm (18cm in Skagerrak/Kattegat). Maturity is at around 17cm.
References
ICES Advice May 2011. ICES Advice 2011, Book 8.
Alternatives
(Based on method of production, fish type, and consumer rating: only fish rated 3 and below are included.)
Read what the consumer pages of the Good Fish Guide say about this species.