Populations of Herring ( Clupea harengus L.) in Newfoundland Waters

• Published in: Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
• Main Author: Tibbo, S. N.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1956
• Subjects: General Medicine; Newfoundland; Notre Dame Bay
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f56-028; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f56-028

Four separate and distinct populations of herring have been identified in Newfoundland waters. They are located during spawning seasons in Bay of Islands, Fortune Bay, Placentia Bay and Notre Dame Bay. They are distinguished by differences in growth, "diameter" of the scales at the end of the first year, and average vertebral counts, also by the length, age, and year-class composition of the spawning aggregations. The herring that are caught off the Labrador coast may be an older and more migratory part of the population that spawns in Notre Dame Bay. The number of vertebrae tends to decrease from south to north in the Newfoundland area, which is the reverse of what is found elsewhere, but temperature at spawning may increase from south to north for these populations. The present fishery is chiefly for large (32.4 to 36.4 cm.) and old (7.4 to 11.9 yr.) herring and it is evident that catches could be increased considerably.