North Sea Herring Fisheries Management Plan

Background

Stock

NSAS herring is caught primarily by pelagic vessels and is of key commercial importance for several countries.

Adult NSAS herring are largely pelagic and are found mostly commonly in continental shelf seas to depths of 200 m deep. Although herring can attain a maximum length of 40 cm, most adult fish in the North Sea are in the range of 20 - 30 cm. On average, more than 60% of the 2- year-olds and 95% of the 3-year olds are mature. Although the maximum lifespan exceeds 10 years, most NSAS herring are less than 9 years. During all stages of their lifecycle, herring represent an important prey for a whole host of predatory species, including cod and other large gadoids, dogfish and sharks, marine mammals and sea birds.

Herring are demersal spawners, producing dense beds of benthic eggs on gravel substrates (often quite close inshore). This behaviour is considered to be an evolutionary remnant of herring’s river spawning past. Each female will produce a single batch of eggs per year, while the male will shed milt while swimming a few centimetres above the female. This reproductive behaviour makes herring vulnerable to anthropogenic activity such as offshore energy industries and gravel extraction

The NSAS herring stock consists of four major spawning components, which differ in spawning time and site, and (to a minor degree) in meristic characters such as number of vertebrae. The different components mix on the feeding grounds in the central and northern North Sea for the majority of the year, but then migrate to specific grounds to spawn in the autumn. Juvenile herring are mostly found in the southern and central parts of the North Sea, and in the Skagerrak and Kattegat. As the juvenile herring grow, they move offshore and join the adult populations in the feeding and spawning migrations to the northern and western areas of the North Sea.

Inshore spawning areas are very sensitive to anthropogenic impacts such as gravel extraction. Herring deposit their egg masses on gravel and maerl habitats, with the spawning grounds largely well-known geographically as the species tend to return annually to the same areas, although the intensity of spawning varies and over time some areas may be deserted and new ones become occupied. After spending their first few years in coastal nurseries, two-year-old herring move offshore into deeper waters, eventually joining the adult population in the feeding and spawning migrations to the western areas of the North Sea. The habitats of juveniles and adults are primarily pelagic although their distribution is affected by features such as temperature, depth of thermoclines as well as abundance and composition of the zooplankton on which they feed.

The NSAS herring stock has undergone extensive changes in Spawning Stock Biomass (SSB), from the highs of 4.5 million tonnes in the 1940s, to the lows of around 10,000 tonnes during the stock collapse of the late 1970s. In recent years, recruitment appears to have been reduced, although it is not yet clear why. Herring growth is related to temperature, with warmer conditions leading to higher growth rates, but shorter life expectancy and smaller maximum size. Current assessments show that fishing pressure on the stock is below F_MSY, and the spawning stock size is above MSY B_trigger, B_PA, and B_lim.

Location

This stock is found in International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) subarea 4 and divisions 3.a and 7.d (North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat, eastern English Channel). This FMP only applies to UK waters of subarea 4 and division 7.d.

Alt Map of the North Sea region in northwestern Europe showing surrounding countries and marked sea zones.

This map shows total herring catches across all quarters of 2023, divided into a grid covering the North Sea and surrounding coastal areas. Higher catch values are concentrated in the northern North Sea, particularly east of Scotland and around the Shetland Islands, while catches are generally lower and more dispersed in the southern North Sea and closer to the English Channel.

Fishery

NSAS herring are caught mainly by large (>40m) pelagic vessels from several countries, with the UK pelagic fleet accounting for all of the catch by UK vessels between 2018 and 2024.

Between 2018 and 2024, the UK fishing fleet catching NSAS herring in ICES subarea 4, and subarea 7.d caught on average of 85% in area 4.a and 10% in area 4.b 4% of was caught in area 7.d, with the remaining 1% from area 4.c

[place holder – ICES data on landing location Herring (Clupea harengus) in Subarea 4 and divisions 3.a and 7.d, autumn spawners (North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat, eastern English Channel) ]

Of the UK fleet in 2024, Scottish registered vessels accounted for 74% of the total catch, English vessels accounted for 17%, and Northern Irish vessels accounted for the remaining 9%.

The NSAS stock is important to the catching sector, for whom it typically accounts for 15% of their landed value. The value and tonnage of landings by UK vessels is shown in Table 1.

The landed value of NSAS herring for UK vessels was consistently between £37 million and £55 million between 2018 and 2023, with annual fluctuations. The tonnage during this period was typically around 70,000 tonnes, although 2018 and 2022 saw higher tonnages than average, with 92,000 tonnes in 2018 and 85,000 in 2022. The price per tonne rose from £444 in 2018 to £657 in 2021, before decreasing slightly to £637 in 2023. 2024 saw an increase in all three variables. The landed value of NSAS herring rose to almost £80 million and tonnage increased to just under 100,000 tonnes. The price per tonne also rose, to a period high of £799.

Between 2015 and 2024, landings of NSAS herring by the UK fleet were split between the UK and abroad. On average, the UK saw around 45% of NSAS herring landings, with Peterhead and Shetland being the primary districts. Peterhead saw an average of 32% of NSAS herring landings and was the primary destination out of all landing destinations. Shetland saw an average of 13%. Abroad, Norway was the primary landing destination for the UK fleet, seeing an average of 29% of NSAS herring landings between 2015 and 2024. The Netherlands also saw a sizeable share of 20% of landings in the same period. The remaining 6% of NSAS herring landings were split between Denmark, Ireland, and other areas.

Looking solely at 2024, the trend has changed slightly. 56% of NSAS herring was landed into Scotland, with 44% landed abroad. Peterhead and Shetland remain the primary districts, seeing 37% and 18% of landings, respectively. Abroad, Norway saw a decrease to 26% of landings, whilst the Netherlands saw 16%. Denmark and Ireland saw a negligible volume of landings. In 2026, a minimum of 70% of NSAS herring landings will be into Scotland.

For the UK ports into which NSAS herring is landed, the stock is of significant importance. NSAS herring represented 8% of Peterhead’s total value of landings, and 11% of Lerwick’s landings. Whilst there is limited data on the employment statistics of this fleet group, it is a segment that is highly specialised and catches the most fish by value of the UK fleet.

In the North Sea, NSAS herring appears occasionally as a bycatch in the mackerel fishery. Within other fleets, NSAS herring is caught as a bycatch in industrial fisheries such as sandeel, sprat and Norway pout which are prosecuted predominantly by non‑UK vessels..

Pelagic fisheries are, in the main, classed as a relatively ‘clean’ fishery, meaning that issues with discarding and bycatch are deemed to be minimal. The introduction of Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) in Scottish waters, where the majority of pelagic fishing takes place in the UK, provides an enhanced level of confidence and ensure that effective tools are in place to deter and detect any illegal activity. Defra is also working towards introducing REM in this fishery.