Herring fishing boats working the Georgia Straight, Vancouver Island. BC Canada. SCO 8075


Historically the Pacific herring has been an important species, due to its productive abilities to generate significant species biomass. Due to overfishing, the total North American Pacific herring fishery collapsed in 1993, and is slowly recovering with active management by North American resource managers. In various sub-areas the Pacific herring fishery collapsed at slightly differing times; for example, the Pacific herring fishery in Richardson Bay collapsed in 1983. The species has been re-appearing in harvestable numbers in a number of North American fisheries including San Francisco Bay, Richardson Bay, Tomales Bay, Sitka Sound, Half Moon Bay and Humboldt Bay. In other areas, such as Auke Bay, which, in the late 1970's was the largest harvestable stock of herring in Alaska, the species remains severely depleted. Pacific herring are currently harvested commercially for salmon bait and for roe. Past commercial uses included fish oil and fish meal. On April 2, 2007, the Juneau group of the Sierra Club submitted a petition to list Pacific herring in the Lynn Canal, Alaska, area as a threatened or endangered distinct population segment under the criteria of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). On April 11, 2008, that petition was denied because the Lynn Canal population was not found to qualify as a DPS. However, the National Marine Fisheries Service did announce would be initiating a status review for a wider Southeast Alaska DPS of Pacific herring that includes the Lynn Canal population. The Southeast Alaska DPS of Pacific herring extends from Dixon Entrance northward to Cape Fairweather and Icy Point and includes all Pacific herring stocks in Southeast Alaska.


Size: 6153px × 3977px
Location: Parksville Beach, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Canada.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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