THE
MULTITUDINOUS
PACIFIC HERRING
by D. N. OUTRAM
FISHERIES
RESEARCH
BOARD OF CANADA
BIOLOGICAL STATION,
NANAIMO, B. C.
CIRCULAR
NO. 6 3^*u
DECEMBER, 1961
COVER PHOTOGRAPH: A mountain of herring covers the storage bin area of
the reduction plant at Imperial Cannery, Steveston, B„ C„, awaiting
processing into fish meal and oil. Photographs by Mr. C. Morley.
THE MULTITUDINOUS PACIFIC HERRING
.
Vast Shoals of Protein-Rich Herring Rove the Temperate
Coastal Waters Along Canada's Western Seabord
N
V
By Donald N, Outram
y
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Fabulous numbers of herring
annually.
^v-
_••
While this fishery is.
first in landed weight and second
(Fig. l) are found along the sea-
to salmon in landed value, it is
washed shores of Canada's most wes
only worth about one-quarter as much
terly province,
as the salmon catch.
Their migrations,
their sudden abundance and their
Fluctuations in the world price
straggle to survive is an exciting
of fish meal and oil cause the market
study.
value at about ten million dollars to
Undoubtedly, herring were one
of the first coastal fishes to be
utilized by man.
vary from year to year,
In northern Europe,
FISHING FOR HERRING
particularly, they have been a source
The British Columbia herring
of food since before written history.
fishery is a highly organized opera
Herring and herring roe have been an
tion utilizing modern shore plants and
article of food or barter of the
efficient fishing vessels . The seventycoastal Indian tribes of British Col
to eighty-foot long seine boats are
umbia for ma.ny centuries,
They were
equipped with the very latest electronic
not fished, however, on a commercial
fish-detecting equipment, enabling the
basis until 1877 when 75 tons were
fishermen to "see" the shoals before
caught.
setting the net (Fig, 2).
In some
Today, in British Columbia, about
areas the eighty vessel fishing fleet
200,000 tons of herring are caught
may use powerful blue-tinted lights
to attract fish schools.
to
To the lower left in the photo a three-inch long, four
month old juvenile herring can be seen.
(Clupea harengus)0
'
in large schools. The silvery, eight-inch long adult herring shown above weigh
about three ounzes, somewhat smaller than the closely related Atlantic herring
Figo 1. HERRING PROFILES. Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi) characteristically travel
\
Purse seining has been the dom
along the Vancouver Island shoreline.
inant method of harvesting the her
On the east coast the best localities
ring crop since 1910.
are off Campbell River, off Comox and
The 275-fathom
long net encircles a school of herring
amongst the "Gulf Islands" between
and a purse line closes off the bottom
Nanaimo and Victoria and on the west
like a draw string to prevent herring
coast in Barkley Sound, in Nootka Sound
from escaping.
and in Esperanza Inlet,
In central
British Columbia herring are caught
Sets average about 70 tons but
catches up to 300 tons or about three
in the channels near Bella Bella and
million herring are not uncommon.
in northern British Columbia around
The
largest catches by a single net ever
the islands south of Prince Rupert.
recorded were 1260 tons from Ogden
Considerable catches are sometimes
Channel near Prince Rupert in 1950
made along the lower east coast of the
and 1150 tons off Comox in 1949.
Queen Charlotte Islands.
The
Fish caught in southern British
former was made by the seiner "Maple
Leaf C", the latter by the seiner
Columbia are generally processed at
"Western Ranger".
The captured her
Steveston near Vancouver while those
ring are scooped two tons at a time
captured in central and northern Bri
with a giant dipnet or brailer into
tish Columbia are delivered to shore
the hold of the fishing vessel (Fig,
plants in Prince Rupert and Namu, south
3) and conveyed rapidly to the shore
of Bella Bella.
plants.
Some herring are also caught
At the shore plants herring are
by mid-water trawls and a few, to
unloaded by a giant suction hose into
supply the fresh fish market, by giU-
storage bins to a.wait processing into
nets.
fish meal and oil (Fig. 4).
The her
DESTINY OF CAPTURED HERRING
ring harvest of British Columbia is
In southern British Columbia the
not utilized directly for human con
sumption but rather forms a protein
most prolific fishing grounds are
- 3 -
Pig, 2.
SEARCHING FOR HERRING,,
The electronic fish-finder
(echo-sounder) sends high-freq
uency sound waves downwards be
low the vessel's keel (A).
These sound waves bounce back
from the solid sea floor and
from objects in between, schools
of fish, for example. The re
flected waves are displayed in
the form of a graph similar to
the one shown below.
This is an
actual record of a school of
winter herring in Satellite Chan
A.
nel, one of the major herring
fishing grounds in the Ste of
SOUND WAV
EMANATING FROM ]
Georgia.
KEEL OF FISHING,
A school of herring (B)
is undergoing the characteristic
nightly rise from the sea floor
(C) toward a catchable depth of
VESSEL
30 fathoms.
If a seine net was set a-
round this body of fish a sub
stantial catch could be expect
ed o
Because the echo-sounder
enables Pacific Coast fishermen
to "see" fish before setting
the net this electronic instru-^
ment is almost as important
nowadays as the main engine.
B.
CLOUDLIKE
AREA IN MID-
WATER IS IMAGE
OF DENSE SHOAL
OF WINTER
HERRING
/
_
CONTOUR
OF SEA-BED IN
SATELLITE CHAN
SHOWING DEEP
50 FATHOM
t
MOLE
-
4
-
and mineral rich supplement in the
broad, are imprinted with annual rings
diet of poultry, pigs and mink.
that can be used to tell the age of a
The
edible fish oil is shipped by rail
herring (Fig. 6).
and truck to markets in Canada and
the herring catches are composed mainly
the United States for use in the man
of fish that are three and four years
ufacture of soaps, paints and cooking
of age.
compounds.
herring would grow to be quite old.
Only five per cent of the
In British Columbia
If there were no fishery some
total herring catch is used for human
The oldest herring on record, caught
sustenance either canned, salted,
several years ago near Prince Rupert,
pickled or fresh.
was over fifteen years old.
SPAWNING PILGRIMAGE
PROFILE OF A HERRING
Pacific coast herring are bony
To fulfill the instinct to repro
fish (Fig. 5) about nine inches long
duce their species the herring legions
with blue-green backs shading away to
undertake long spawning pilgrimages
silvery white on the sides.
each year.
The mouth
In the fall, they leave
is large with a slightly projecting
the rich offshore feeding grounds above
lower jaw; the tail is deeply forked.
the continental shelf and migrate to
They are graceful but somewhat nervous
inshore waters.
swimmers, characteristically travel
dense schools awaiting the ripening
ling in large shoals.
of their reproductive organs.
They are grouped
Here, they form in
It is
scientifically in the Family Clupeidae,
during this winter resting phase that
to which also belong such other closely
the fishermen intervene to make their
related Pacific coast species as the
catches.
pilchard (California sardine), the
the shore in early spring.
Spawning takes place along
shad and the anchovy.
UNUSUAL SPAWNING HABITS
Iridescent, loosely attached
For a few hours each spring her
scales, about one-quarter of an inch
ring leave the ocean depths and crowd
- 5 -
Fig. 3. HERRING HARVEST.
The 70-80 foot fishing vessels may
make catches of 100 tons or more.
The silvery fish are
transferred or brailed two tons at a time with a giant
dip net into the hold of the fish boat.
Fig. 4. SACKED FISH.
Herring are not utilized
directly as food by man.
Only five per cent of
the total British Col
umbia catch is canned,
salted, pickled or sold
freshj the remaining
ninety-five per cent is
processed into fish meal
and fish oil. Sacks of
fish meal like those in
the figure are shipped
by truck across the con
tinent to markets in
the United States and
Canada.
-
6
-
onto the beaches in vast numbers to
are fastened to moist seaweed many
perpetuate their race.
thousands of eggs are destroyed.
Although male
and female are present in equal num
Storms frequently annihilate whole
bers on the spawning ground there is
spawnings.
no "pairing off" during the spawning
are attracted in large flocks to the
act.
spawning beaches, first to feed on
Females discharge sticky eggs
Seagulls and diving ducks
on green eel grass and brown rockweed,
the spawners and then on the spawn
japweed and kelp (Fig. 7).
left exposed at low tide.
The males
Mortality
shed milt into the surrounding water
during the egg stage may amount to as
turning it milky and opaque for miles
much as 70-80 per cent.
(Fig. 8).
During the 196l spawning
FRAGILE INFANT HERRING
season, over 186 miles of spawn were
By late April the sea lanes are
deposited on 132 spawning sites along
populated with tremendous numbers of
the 17,000 miles of British Columbia
newly hatched, almost invisible her
shoreline.
After spawning, the spent
ring larvae.
These fragile, thread
fish return offshore to feed in scat
like one-quarter-inch long infant her
tered schools.
ring (Fig. 9) bear as much resemblance
An average-sized herring deposits
to the adult fish as a stickleback
about 20,000 eggs each year.
The
does to a shark.
They lack scales,
transparent eggs are less than one-
the head and black eyes are greatly
sixteenth of an inch in diameter and
enlarged and they can barely swim.
one square inch of seaweed may be
Two months later when about one and
covered with as many as one thousand
one-half inches long they will have
eggs.
After a sixteen-day incubation
undergone a gradual metamorphosis that
period the embryonic fish finally
changed their outward appearance into
break out of the confining egg mem
that of a miniature adult herring.
branes and drift away.
During the brief period that they
- 7 -
Fig. 5.
BONES.
HERRING
The skel
etal remains of a
Pacific herring.
The fine bone
structure detracts
from the appeal of
herring as food on
the fresh fish
markets.
SUMMED.
Fig. 6.
ZONES
HERRING REVEAL AGEo
WINTEP
PINGS
The markings or rings shown above on the
enlarged half-scale from a herring indicate that this fish was
seven years old when caughto
In most regions of British Columbia,
however, over eighty-five per cent of the fishable schools con
sist of herring that are three and four years of age. The oldest
herring on record was a fifteen year old fish caught several years
ago in Ogden Channel, thirty miles south of Prince Rupert.
-
8
-
Fig. 7o
EGGS UNLIMITED. Eel grass beds at Nanoose Bay covered with
herring spawn for as far as the eye can see. Herring swarm on
to the beaches in March, the females depositing adhesive eggs
on seaweedso The upper right-hand corner inset shows a group
of transparent herring eggs (enlarged 15 times).
Note the en
ormous black eyes of the embryos and of the newly-hatched,
infant herring.
Fig. 8.
WHITE
WATER FROM A HER
RING SPAWNING.
Part of a two mile
herring spawning in
progress along the
shore at Coffin
Point near Ladysmith .
Patches
of water, like
clouds, are turned
white and opaque
by the mass emis
sion of the spermladen milt.
- 9 -
RESEARCH AND REGULATIONS
PINT-SIZED JUVENILES
After schooling up, the infant
Herring research has shown that
herring now known as juveniles can
two types of herring stocks exist in
be found frequenting kelp beds for
the coastal waters of British Columbia;
protection during the summer months.
major migratory stocks and minor resi
These sardine-sized fish are raked by
dent stocks, the latter present in
sports fishermen for use as live bait
local waters all year round.
when trolling for salmon.
year herring tagging program carried
Occasion
A twenty-
ally, a small fishery for these juv
out by the Biological Station, Fisheries
eniles takes place but the schools
Research Board of Canada, Nanaimo,
of young herring have never been
B. C, (Fig. 10) has indicated that
exploited to the extent of those
there are at least nine relatively
along the Atlantic seaboard and in
separate migratory herring populations
the Gulf of Maine.
along the coast.
In October, when about 4 inches
Present day efforts are designed
long, juvenile herring normally for
to provide a scientific basis for a
sake their shallow-water haunts and
management program that will allow
move seawards into deeper waters.
the greatest possible catch from all
Their survivors will return in the
populations.
fishable stocks mostly as mature,
gram emphasis is placed on compilation
three-year-old herring.
of catch statistics, sampling for age,
They will
In the continuing pro
continue to return each year in the
length and maturity, estimating spawn
spawning runs for the remainder of
abundance and echo-sounding surveys.
their life span.
The analysis of these data provides
Little information
exists with respect to the distribu
information on the level of abundance
tion and abundance of immature herring
of each population and on the relation
between the time they leave shallow
ship between the size of the spawning
water and the time they return as
stock (measured by the amount of spawn
adult fish.
deposited) and the resulting number
- 10 -
INFANT HERRING.
larva is shown.
and can barely swim. As ocean currents sweep them gradually away from
the nursery areas they undergo awesome casualties from predation and
starvation. In the upper left corner a full length sketch of a herring
one-quarter-inch long, infant fish with yolk sac attached lack scales
These
The fragile, transparent appearance of larval her-
is illustrated by the two greatly enlarged young shown above.
Fig. 9.
I
10
M
10.
RESEARCH CENTRE.
The Fisheries Research Board of Canada's
Biological Station on the shores of Departure Bay near Nanaimo.
From small beginnings in 1908 it has now become one of the lar
gest research units in the Pacific area. All phases of fish and
invertebrate biology are covered including studies of the growth,
reproduction, predation, behaviour and catchability of many
species.
of recruits to the fishable schools
HUNTER AND HUNTED
(year-class strength).
Pacific herring are almost entirely
The British Columbia herring
lacking in either defensive or offen
fishery is regulated through the Fed
sive abilities, consequently, they are
eral Department of Fisheries by a com
more preyed upon than any other species
bination of closed areas, closed sea
of coastal fish.
sons and catch quotas.
is dependent upon their abundance.
The closed
Their perpetuation
At
season extending from February 5 to
all stages of their life span herring
May 1 in southern British Columbia as
form a basic food supply in the econ
designed to protect the fish at spawn
omy of the coastal waters of the north
ing time when they are massed close
eastern Pacific Ocean.
to shore.
men think adequate stocks of herring
By mutual agreement, a
Many fisher
48-hour closure period occurs each
are necessary to sustain important
weekend as well as a 3-week shut-down
food fishes such as coho and spring
over Christmas.
salmon.
However, control of
However, available biologi
the fishery is provided principally
cal evidence suggests that perhaps
by a system of catch quotas applied
these fish could subsist on alterna
to most of the ma.jor herring populav-'
tive foods should herring abundance
tions.
ever reach very low levels.
Thus, 40,000 tons of herring
Herring are eaten by a whole con
may be taken each year from the her
ring population off the lower east
stellation of creatures.
coast of Vancouver Island.
consumed by many kinds of sea birds,
If sur
Eggs are
veys by patrol vessels of the Depart
larvae by numerous invertebrates and
ment of Fisheries (Fig. 11) and bio
older herring by sea lions, lingcod,
logical evidence indicate fish are
dogfish and salmon.
unusually abundant, extensions to
astonishing that any individuals live
quotas are usually granted.
long enough to reproduce their kind.
- 13 -
It is truly
Fig. llo FISH GUARDIAN. The fishery patrol vessel "Atlin Post" docked
at Nanaimoj B.C. Vessels of this type are used to facilitate the
regulation and management of renewable, marine resources like
salmon, herring, cod, halibut and shellfish. Regulations pertain
ing to coastal fisheries are made by federal authorities. Aft
the patrol vessel can be seen the fifty-four feet research trawler
"Investigator No. 1"0
Copepod
Crab larva
Euphausiid shrimp
(red feed)
Fig. 12.
PLANKTONIC FISH FOOD.
Herring do not prey on other fish but
feed on swarms of tiny, almost invisible sea organisms collective
ly called zooplankton. If the stomach contents of a Pacific her
ring were to be examined the chief articles of food present would
undoubtedly be amphipods, copepods and shrimplike euphausiids
(red feed). The latter two categories of sea life (enlarged 3
times) are pictured above together with a larval crab.
- 14 -
In turn, herring feed on flea-
calamities affecting the numbers of
sized organisms, such as copepods,
herring in the ocean are probably of
amphipods and the young, free-swimming
much greater significance than man's
stages of barnacles and crabs (Fig.
effect on the stocks.
12).
ring from 10,000 eggs is destined to
This diet is supplemented in
Only one her
the summer months with euphausiid
return to spawn.
shrimps, known locally as red feed.
seemingly high mortality, herring exist
Herring food forms part of the cate
in fabulous numbers in the temperate
gory of ocean life known as zooplank-
waters off Canada's western seaboard.
ton or animal plankton.
This region supports a vast reservoir
The zoo-
In spite of this
plankton organisms rise nightly
of minerals, proteins and vitamins
towards the sea surface and descend
that is renewable year after year with
again at dawn to avoid the intense
very little help from man.
daylight.
clothe themselves, feed themselves and
Because herring are zoo-
Herring
plankton feeders they also exhibit a
perpetuate themselves.
similar up and down movement.
natural resource is utilized only to
The
Today this
fishing fleets utilize this character
a limited extent directly for the
istic upward, nocturnal swim to bring
sustenance of the shoredwellers.
the herring shoals within reach of
doubt a time will come when Pacific
their nets.
coast herring stocks will prove to be
No
an invaluable food source in a world
A RENEWABLE COMMODITY
of rapidly increasing population.
The survival of herring is a
stimulating study.
The natural
- 15 -
ROGER DUHAMEL. F.R.S.C.
QUEEN'S PRINTER AND CONTROLLER OF STATIONERY
OTTAWA. 1961