The period during which the observations on the distribution and migrations of herring were 

 conducted was too brief to enable us to draw ultimate conclusions on the relative importance of 

 migration paths and on the degree to which these courses may vary from one year to another. Dur- 

 ing our investigations, the most important course of migration of herring to feeding grounds passed 

 across the central zones of the Norwegian Sea, along the western branch of the Norwegian current. 

 The paths following the eastern branch and the western course passing along the edge of the East- 

 Icelandic current, are of lesser importance. 



Figure 9. The paths followed by tagged herring, after A. P. Vilson: 1. Frontiers of the 

 floating ice. 2. Spawning grounds . Index numbers of herring specimens are 

 encircled (see Table 6). 



It is still highly unrealistic to attempt a definition of the migration paths of different popu- 

 lations of Atlantic -Scandinavian herring. We nevertheless believe it possible to draw the following 

 indisputable conclusion: it is probable that herring from the southernmost spawning grounds pene- 

 trate the western regions of the Norwegian Sea and vice versa, the herring from the northern spawn- 

 ing grounds migrate most probably to the eastern regions of the Greenland Sea . 



43 



