Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) demographics in the Gulf of Maine from 1998 to 2012

Abstract

Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) in the Georges Bank, Gulf of Maine, and southern New England regions were sampled from early September into mid-November by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center during their annual randomly-stratified bottom trawl and systematic acoustic/midwater trawl surveys. Atlantic herring were randomly selected for length distributions and systematically subsampled for biological metrics (e.g., weight, age, maturity, and sex). Broad similarities in Atlantic herring biological metrics between midwater and bottom trawl catches suggest both gear types provide comparable sampling of herring demographics in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank regions during autumn. Annual mean lengths and weights and temporal patterns of herring size were consistently similar between gear types. Similarity in age structure between Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine suggest a similar response to intrinsic and extrinsic factors between herring stocks in these regions, but apparent asynchrony in spawning timing suggests some level of independence between these stocks. Overall similarities can mask interesting distinctions such as midwater trawls seem to sample younger, smaller, but heavier fish than do bottom trawls. Sampling of historical spawning sites appears to characterize the biological state of Atlantic herring in the Georges Bank region and could be utilized to design an efficient sampling scheme for Atlantic herring in the Gulf of Maine.