there has been little commercial fishing for the Georges Bank stock because of 

 low numbers of fish. Historically, this was the area where the foreign fleets 

 obtained the bulk of their catches during the autumn. The National Marine 

 Fisheries Service and Federal Republic of Germany failed to locate any 

 concentrations of spawning herring during 1977 and 1978 autumn bottom trawl 

 and larval surveys on Georges Bank. This supports the hypothesis that the 

 abundance of herring on Georges Bank is depressed severely, relative to a few 

 years ago when a large fishery flourished. The spring 1979 research surveys 

 caught primarily 1975 year-class (age 4) and 1976 year-class (age 3) herring. 



Since 1971, a significant proportion of Georges Bank herring have matured 

 at age 3. Prior to that date most herring did not mature until age 4 (Anthony 

 1982). This is apparently due to an increased growth rate in recent years. 

 The size of the spawning stock in 1979 will depend on the number of 1976 year- 

 class fish that mature at age 3. Spawning occurs in discrete areas near 

 Nantucket Shoals and along the northern and, to a lesser extent, southern 

 edges of Georges Bank. The eggs are demersal and adhere to gravel or flora on 

 the bottom. Hatching occurs in id to 15 days, depending on temperature 

 (Bigelow and Schroeder 1953). The larvae remain in the general hatching 

 vicinity through the winter months and metamorphose into juveniles during the 

 spring. Schools of juveniles have been observed to range from the coastal and 

 estuarine waters of southern Cape Cod to Georges Bank (including Georges 

 Shoals ). 



Larval Atlantic herring feed on copepods, crustacean eggs, developing 

 Crustacea and nauplii, cirriped larvae and tintinnids. Adult herring, being 

 plankti vores, feed mainly on chaetognaths , euphausiids and pteropods (Anthony 

 1982). Atlantic herring are preyed upon by many commercially and 

 recreational ly important species Sucn as Atlantic cod, haddock, pollock, 



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