Environmental preferences of Atlantic herring under changing harvest regimes

The meso-scale distribution of filter-feeding fishes, such as Atlantic herring, is usually associated with oceanographic features. These species are often concentrated along fronts, which demarcate boundaries between water masses and are frequently areas of increased primary and secondary production. Fishing operations can use these oceanographic features as a predictive tool to find fish more efficiently. These habitat features are also partly responsible for the local availability of fish, which can be an important factor if a fishery is allocated regionally or by fleets. The distribution of the Atlantic herring purse seine fleet was studied to evaluate the response of the fish to oceanographic features. Catch rates were compared to remotely-sensed sea surface temperature, chlorophyll concentration, primary production rate, and frontal occurrence probability. Temperature, chlorophyll, and primary production were poor predictors of catch location, whereas frontal probability was associated with fishing. This association changed dramatically in 1995 when purse seine fishers seemed to target and find fish in distinctly different oceanographic conditions. This transition in the distribution of purse seine effort was coincident with the increased activity of the mid-water trawl fleet in the Gulf of Maine, suggesting that gear interaction may have influenced the selection of target fishing areas. by Kevin D. Friedland, John E. O'Reilly, Jonathan A. Hare, Grayson B. Wood, William J. Overholtz, and Matthew D. Cieri. "August 2006." Includes bibliographical references (pages 9-10).