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Stock Status within the North Sea Herring
Key Findings
- Herring (Clupea harengus) has a wide distribution in the continental shelf waters of the North Atlantic. Herring generally form dense pelagic shoals that maintain annual migration patterns between feeding, spawning and overwintering grounds.
- In Scottish waters, they spawn inshore during spring and offshore during autumn (fig. 1). Spring-spawned herring have been found to have a longer lifespan, reach maximum size and produce fewer, heavier eggs that yield large larvae when compared to autumn-spawned herring that undergoes unfavourable environmental conditions with less progress in their developmental stages over the winter months.
- Herring differ from other marine fish as they are dependent on specific benthic spawning habitats to lay their sticky eggs, forming dense carpets in highly localised areas. This increases vulnerability to mortality due to anthropogenic pressures such as use of bottom towed gear and toxins.
- In Scotland, herring has been an important species for subsistence and commercial species since the Neolithic times.
- The species is a Priority Marine Feature (PMF) in both territorial and offshore Scottish waters.
- North Sea Herring are considered to be a 'Good Choice' by the Marine Conservation Society.
- Landings for local ports are not listed within Scottish Fisheries Statistics. Combined Scottish catches are shown in Figure 3.
- Catches of Herring are highly variable over time with periods of boom and bust.
Figure 1: Cod spawning grounds - North Sea (Gonzalez-Irusta and Wright 2016)
Figure 2: ICES Stock assessment for Cod
Figure 3: Scottish Fisheries Statistics 2021 - Tonnage and value of Herring landings by Scottish vessels into Scotland
Notes
Linked Information Sheets
Seafood Landings by Value into the North East of Scotland - Employment in the fishing industry offshore- Employment in the fishing industry onshore- Markets for Seafood - Fraserburgh Harbour, Peterhead Harbour - Aberdeen Harbour - Small Harbours north of Aberdeen - Small Harbours South of Aberdeen – Status of key commercial species – Numbers of fishing vessels – Training - Employment - Mackerel line catch value
Key sources of Information
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Status
Live. Update due 09/01/2026
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