Living in the Baltic Sea

Spawning
Age: 2-3 years of age
Season: Spring - Fall
Number of eggs: 50 000 for a 32 cm long Herring

The spawning takes place at 1-140 meters depth. The eggs are placed on hard bottoms like gravel or stone with sturdy vegetation. The eggs hatch in about 3 weeks and the larvae live a pelagic -open water- life feeding on plankton.

Human impact and Status
Herring is an important economic fish. Adult fish are harvested for their meat and roe. Herring is also caught to make fishmeal and to feed large fish like Salmon and Cod in aqua cultures.
Around the 1950’s the catch of herring rapidly decreased due to heavy overfishing with better and more sophisticated equipment. This devastating fishing lead to a fishing ban introduced during the 1970’s. The stock of herring has since then recuperated. CLOSE