Certified as sustainable on the 21st July 2009.
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Summary
Species: Herring (Clupea harengus)
Location: North-East Atlantic (ICES divisions I, IIa and IIb, V, XIV).
Fishing methods: Purse seine and pelagic trawl
Vessels: 8
Number of fisheries: 1
More about herring
The Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) is found throughout the continental shelf waters of the North Atlantic, from the Gulf of Maine to the Gulf of St Lawrence off the east coast of North America, around Iceland, and from the Barents Sea to the English Channel and Celtic Sea in the NE Atlantic. Within this total distribution there are numerous more-or-less isolated or independent stocks of which the largest is the Atlanto-Scandian or Norwegian spring spawning herring stock. At various times of its life history it occupies some or all of the waters between Iceland, Norway and Spitzbergen (Svalbard).
North Sea herring spawn in coastal waters in areas where the substrate consist of gravel and small stones. The eggs are attached to the substrate and hatch after about three weeks depending on temperature. The requirement for a gravel substrate means that the spawning grounds are relatively small and well defined.
Herring is a central component in the North Sea ecosystem both as predator and as prey. Herring feeds mainly on zooplankton (copepods, mysids, euphausiids, fish egg and larvae) and juvenile fish. Herring is an important prey for most predator species including cod, saithe, whiting, mackerel, sea birds and marine mammals.
More about the fishing methods
The herring trawls are mid-water or pelagic trawls. The trawl is towed by the fishing vessel at an appropriate level below the surface to catch the herring shoals. The depth is controlled by a combination of trawling speed and wire length. When the trawl is hauled the trawl is brought to the side of the vessel and the catch is pumped onboard into RSW tanks containing refrigerated seawater.
The pelagic trawls used are not designed to fish on the sea bed and any contact with the bottom involves risk of damage to the trawl. The skippers therefore operate the trawl so that there is no contact with the sea bed. As a result, there is no or very little impact on sea bed habitats when fishing with herring trawls.
The purse seine technique involves the setting of a large net around a shoal of fish, closing the bottom of the net to form a “purse”, and then drawing in the net to the vessel. At the time when the “purse” is sufficiently small in size to be brought to the side of the vessel, the catch is pumped onboard and kept in RSW tanks as described above.
As it is the case with the pelagic trawl the purse seine has no contact with the bottom.
Fishery tonnage
32,301 tonnes
Commercial market
The herring landed by the DPPO fleet is almost exclusively exported. The main market for the DPPO Atlanto Scandian herring is the EU.
Actual eligibility date
The actual eligibility date for this fishery is the 1st of January 2009.
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