THE HERRING OF THE NORTH EUROPEAN BASIN 

 AND ADJACENT SEAS 



PREFACE 



In order to realize the decree of the Party and the Government concerning the development 

 of the Soviet fisheries, the Polar Institute in 1937 began a large scale investigation of the biology 

 of the Barents Sea herrings. The principal results of these investigations are published in 

 Volumes IV, VI and VII of the Trudy PINRO. It was found that the Atlantic -Scandinavian herring 

 which originate from the northernmost spawning places, near the Lofoten Islands, spend the first 

 year of their lives in the Barents Sea. There they grow and live until the onset of maturity. The 

 immature herring are in large schools which from the year 1938 onwards were exploited by 

 drifters. 



It was found that the tribe of immature Atlantic -Scandinavian herring in the Barents Sea 

 was comjxjsed of a small number of age groups. Until the third year of age, the herring is of 

 little commercial importance, and at an age of 4-5 years the greater part leaves the Barents Sea. 

 Thus only three, sometimes four, age groups may be the object of fishery along the Murman 

 coast . 



With a limited number of age groups, great fluctuations in the strength of the year classes 

 will be largely reflected in the size of the stock and accordingly will also affect the fishery. This 

 was the practical conclusion of the PINRO investigations on the natural basis for the relative size 

 of the herring fishery in the Barents Sea. During the following period, the experience of the 

 fishery confirmed this hypothesis. By the presence of only one rich year class in the stock, the 

 catch was very good; but when all the year classes were poor, the output of the fishery was quite 

 different . 



This main conclusion determined the direction of the following investigations of the Polar 

 Institute . 



It was necessary to find the habitat of the mature herring which had grown up in the 

 Barents Sea and find out if these fish could be exploited in any way. The long life of the Atlantic- 

 Scandinavian herring gives rise to the assumption that the mature part of the stock might be of 

 great practical importance for the Soviet fishery. 



The first investigations in this direction were carried out in 1939. Large schools of 

 mature herring were discovered west of the Spitzbergen Archipelago. 



After the conclusion of the Second World War, the Polar Institute resumed the study of the 

 migrations of the mature herring in the area of the Spitzbergen current . A small experimental 

 fishery expedition in 1947 may be taken as the beginning of the development of the Soviet herring 

 fishery outside the borders of tlie Barents Sea. 



During the following period, Soviet seamen. In close collaboration with the scientific 

 workers of the Polar Institute, extended the area of the fishery and begun to catch herring through- 

 out the year, exploiting the schools of the herring on their way to the feeding or spawning areas. 



