Herring in the Fish Industry

¶ … Herring in the fish Industry

There is a lot of research today on the role of the herring, as in the fishing industry. One of the most important aspects being studied is the way in which scientists and fishermen are concentrating on 'acoustics' while studying the herring. Since acoustics is especially suited to conducting underwater studies, since sound travels faster underwater than through the air, this is the best method to study underwater life. (Herring Research: Using Acoustics to count fish) However, the assistance of fishermen is also an important aspect of herring research, and often, these people are asked to suggest topics of research, and also methods, so that the researchers may be able to collect more appropriate and relevant data. (Herring Research, the role of fishermen) A herring, as everyone knows it, is a small silvery, oily fish that is generally found in the shallow waters of the North Atlantic or in the Pacific. The fish almost always swims in a large group or school, and the fish is either used salted, or as pickled. It is an important food for the people of those areas, and it is also used in a variety of sauces. It is also smoked as 'kippers'. (Definitions of herring on the Web)

Every year, about 80 million tones of wild fish are generally caught for consumption, from the Earth's oceans. These fish are either consumed as such, or are used to make fishmeal or fish oil. Some are used to make farm food for farmed fish. Today, 'aquaculture' is one of the fastest and more important industries, and its growth as such is fuelled by an ever enhancing demand for better and higher quality of fish. The herring, along with other small fish like 'anchovies, whiting, mackerel, and pilchard' are predominantly used for making fish oil and fishmeal, and this is what is used for the purpose of feeding farmed fish in aquaculture. WWF has calculated that the amount of feed reuired for farmed fish, is at a conservative estimate, about four kilograms of wild fish, are required to produce one kilogram of farmed fish. The aquaculture industry today consumes about 70% of the global production of fish oil, and about 34% of the total fish oil being produced. (Fish Food for Thought)

It is a fact that for those people who are outside of the fishing industry, it will be indeed quite difficult to understand the various issues involved in the processes used by the industry, including fish production, the utilization of various resources, and also the entire marketing process that is used in the fishing industry. Perhaps one of the primary reasons for this is the fact that the fishing industry relies on the very latest technology in order to obtain food from the wild, like for example, robots, bio engineering techniques, satellites, and other types of electronic equipment. All this makes the entire industry extremely complex, and what makes it even more difficult is the large number of fish species that is marketed today: in the U.S. market alone, more than seven hundred different commercial varieties of fish can be found. (Past, present, and possible future of the fishery industry)

The herring has been a very important part of the fishing industry, right from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, in Europe as well as in other parts of the world. Today, the total catch of fish in the world can be stated to be about 98 million tons in the year 1992, 'of which 82.5 million tons are marine fish and 15.5 million tons are freshwater fish'. It must be remembered that a sustained increase in the number of fish cannot be expected in the future, and where there is over fishing, there will inevitably be a decrease in the numbers of fish. The types of fishes that are being caught is also important to the fishing industry, because of the fact that what the consumers want to buy is as important as what fish must be caught. Almost 30% of the world catch of fish is made up of small pelagics of small sizes, like for example, tuna, Bonito and mackerel.

Over fishing, as stated earlier, will inevitably result in the decrease in the numbers of fish, and when certain additional factors are also taken into consideration, like for example, environmental changes, El Nino, and natural biological cycles, and this means that average landings of fish are affected to significant levels. This means that the fishing industry today has a responsibility to manage the available resources well, so that the entire industry will not be forced to collapse, and what is an important part of this is that development of the industry can no longer be based on increased catches of fish. (Past, present, and possible future of the fishery industry)

For appropriate research on the herring, the New England Fisheries Department has formulated a plan that would make this type of research more beneficial to fishermen and others concerned, and what the research involves is that one must continue to develop and use the inshore as well as the newly formed 'acoustic' trawl surveys in order to estimate stock sizes, and also to develop tagging and morphometric studies for the study of the herring. (New England Fisheries Management Council, Research priorities)

An Integrated Fishery Management Plan was announced in the year 2002 by the Fisheries and Oceans Canada, for the purpose of helping to develop the SOK Fisheries, or what is also known as the 'Spawn on Kelp Fisheries'. According to the plan, harvests of roe herrings and SOK would be managed in an extremely precautionary manner, so that there would be time for the re-building of depleting stocks of the herrings. In general, the various methods of harvest are dip net, herring jib, herring rake and cast net, and while these would be allowed, recreational harvests of spawn on kelp would not be allowed. The improvements brought about by such precautions are bringing in results, and herring mortalities has been reduced to a certain extent. (Management Plans for Rose Herring Spawn on KELP announced)