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Predicting herring recruitment from young‐of‐the‐year densities, spawning stock biomass, and climate
Author(s) -
Axenrot Thomas,
Hansson Sture
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.2003.48.4.1716
Subject(s) - herring , clupea , fishery , fishing , fish stock , atlantic herring , stock (firearms) , biomass (ecology) , environmental science , ecosystem , marine ecosystem , sprat , oceanography , biology , geography , ecology , fish <actinopterygii> , archaeology , geology
Because fish are key organisms in most aquatic ecosystems, we seek to understand what determines their highly variable reproductive success. From our work, it appears that yearclass strength of Baltic Sea herring ( Clupea harengus L. ) can be predicted from young‐of‐the‐year densities in a small coastal area (hydroacoustic data), a climate index (the North Atlantic Oscillation), and the spawning stock biomass. These three factors explained 93% of the variation in the number of age 2 herring during 1985–2000. By predicting year‐class strength 3 yr before the fish enter the fishery, we provide managers with the opportunity to adjust fishing pressure per upcoming year classes and manage the fishery by multiannual catch quotas.