Pacific Herring

Tag: Pacific Herring

Herring fishing boats in the Strait of Georgia, BC. Photo: marneejill (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/23BepQz

Ancient harvests: A history of Salish Sea herring

If you were to ask a group of experts to make a list of culturally important foods in the Pacific Northwest, it would not be a surprise if salmon rose to the top. But researchers say Pacific herring may have at times rivaled salmon in importance in the Salish Sea. Scientists believe that herring have been a staple of Salish Sea food and culture since humans first arrived here at least 12,500 years ago. That importance has continued into modern times, even as herring numbers have declined in parts of the region. Puget Sound author and naturalist David B. Williams reports on the history of Salish Sea herring in the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.

A school of herring.Jacob Bøtter/Flickr

Young herring ‘go with the older fish’ a key finding in Ocean Modeling Forum’s efforts

Puget Sound Institute lead ecosystem ecologist Tessa Francis was quoted in a recent article in UW News.
From UWT News Service:
“Young herring ‘go with the older fish’ a key finding in Ocean Modeling Forum’s efforts,” by Michelle Ma, UW News, May 29, 2019, http://www.washington.edu/news/2019/05/29/young-herring-go-with-the-older-fish-a-key-finding-in-ocean-modeling-forums-efforts/.

Tessa Francis is both the lead ecosystem ecologist at the Puget Sound Institute, housed at UW Tacoma’s Center for Urban Waters, and the managing director of the Ocean Modeling Forum (OMF), a science-collaboration group led by UW.

She is quoted in this story about new findings from the Ocean Modeling Forum’s ongoing study of Pacific herring, a species that is identified by the Puget Sound Partnership as a ‘vital sign’ for the health of the Salish Sea ecosystem.

In addition to the science findings—that herring instinctually find their way to spawning grounds by a process where younger fish follow older fish on their journeys to specific beaches—the story emphasizes how the OMF has broken new ground by convening scientists, commercial fishers, and First Nations and Indigenous stakeholders. The project specifically brings together “different approaches and knowledge—including traditional ecological knowledge” to rethink fisheries management practices.

Related article: “How herring learn from their elders,” PSI blog, July 17, 2018.

A school of herring.Jacob Bøtter/Flickr

Young herring ‘go with the older fish’ a key finding in Ocean Modeling Forum’s efforts

Puget Sound Institute lead ecosystem ecologist Tessa Francis was quoted in a recent article in UW News.
From UWT News Service:
“Young herring ‘go with the older fish’ a key finding in Ocean Modeling Forum’s efforts,” by Michelle Ma, UW News, May 29, 2019, http://www.washington.edu/news/2019/05/29/young-herring-go-with-the-older-fish-a-key-finding-in-ocean-modeling-forums-efforts/.

Tessa Francis is both the lead ecosystem ecologist at the Puget Sound Institute, housed at UW Tacoma’s Center for Urban Waters, and the managing director of the Ocean Modeling Forum (OMF), a science-collaboration group led by UW.

She is quoted in this story about new findings from the Ocean Modeling Forum’s ongoing study of Pacific herring, a species that is identified by the Puget Sound Partnership as a ‘vital sign’ for the health of the Salish Sea ecosystem.

In addition to the science findings—that herring instinctually find their way to spawning grounds by a process where younger fish follow older fish on their journeys to specific beaches—the story emphasizes how the OMF has broken new ground by convening scientists, commercial fishers, and First Nations and Indigenous stakeholders. The project specifically brings together “different approaches and knowledge—including traditional ecological knowledge” to rethink fisheries management practices.

Related article: “How herring learn from their elders,” PSI blog, July 17, 2018.

Clouds of herring milt in the water seen during spawning season near Brinnon, WA on Hood Canal, March 2019. Photo: copyright John Gussman, with permission http://www.dcproductions.com

The herring defenders

Herring numbers have been declining in Puget Sound since surveys for them began in the 1970s, but it is unclear what is causing those declines, even in the face of widespread fisheries closures. Less clear still is whether anything else can be done to stop or reverse them, and bring herring back. Our reporter Eric Wagner spent a day with a biologist spotting herring eggs and considering the future of one of our region’s most ecologically and culturally important fish species.
Read the story in Salish Sea Currents.

Puget Sound herring eggs on seaweed. Margaret Siple/University of Washington

Test your herring knowledge

By Jeff Rice
One of the first steps in protecting any species is understanding as much as you can about it. When it comes to Pacific herring in the Salish Sea, much is known but until recently many of the key scientific findings about the species had not been gathered together in a single place. A new state of the knowledge report published by the Puget Sound Institute and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is a step toward remedying that.
The report, “Assessment and Management of Salish Sea Herring” was prepared with support from a grant from the SeaDoc Society. It will be used to advance herring conservation in the region, including potential herring recovery work related to the state’s Pacific herring ‘Vital Sign’. Herring are also a critical food source for many species such as Chinook salmon, which in turn feed Puget Sound’s endangered orcas. Tessa Francis of the Puget Sound Institute and Dayv Lowry of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife were the principle investigators on the report and received input from a cross-border team from state and federal agencies, universities and area tribes.
Did you know:

  • Many herring stocks have declined in Puget Sound while herring numbers are at historic highs in the Strait of Georgia.
  • Herring stocks at Puget Sound’s Cherry Point — once one of the largest herring populations in the United States — have been the hardest hit, declining by nearly 97% over the past 40 years.
  • Sky glow: Higher intensity lighting used in shoreline areas is creating what is known as “sky glow” that reflects off the atmosphere and lights up the water’s surface, making herring more vulnerable to predators. “Increasing [artificial light at night] has created a perpetual twilight from dusk until dawn, and has reduced or eliminated the nocturnal dark refuge for feeding and migrating fishes in the Salish Sea region,” the report reads.
  • Vessel noise has been a hot topic when it comes to Puget Sound’s endangered orcas, but underwater noise may also impact other species such as herring. Scientists have observed changes in the behavior of Pacific herring’s cousin the Atlantic herring due to exposure to human-caused noise.
  • PAH’s from stormwater lead to shorter body lengths and cardiac defects among larval herring.
  • Seals and sea lions don’t just eat juvenile salmon. Increasing numbers of harbor seals in Puget Sound are suspected of impacting Chinook salmon populations, but harbor seals eat primarily Pacific herring, especially during the winter and spring.
  • Early Salish Sea tribes and first nations may have helped to cultivate herring populations by transplanting herring eggs to new locations.

To find out more about Salish Sea herring, read the full report on the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.
Citation:
The Salish Sea Pacific Herring Assessment and Management Strategy Team. 2018. Assessment and Management of Pacific Herring in the Salish Sea: Conserving and Recovering a Culturally Significant and Ecologically Critical Component of the Food Web. The SeaDoc Society, Orcas Island, WA. 73 pp.

How herring learn from their elders

Young Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) learn migration behavior by joining up with older fish, according to a new paper co-authored by Puget Sound Institute Lead Ecosystem Ecologist Tessa Francis. The paper, published this month in the ICES Journal of Marine Science, showed how this behavior leads to greater spatial variability in biomass, and that commercial fishing could disproportionately affect some herring populations.
Citation:
Alec D MacCall, Tessa B Francis, André E Punt, Margaret C Siple, Derek R Armitage, Jaclyn S Cleary, Sherri C Dressel, R Russ Jones, Harvey Kitka, Lynn C Lee, Phillip S Levin, Jim McIsaac, Daniel K Okamoto, Melissa Poe, Steve Reifenstuhl, Jörn O Schmidt, Andrew O Shelton, Jennifer J Silver, Thomas F Thornton, Rudi Voss, John Woodruff, Handling editor: Ken Andersen. (2018). A heuristic model of socially learned migration behaviour exhibits distinctive spatial and reproductive dynamics. ICES Journal of Marine Science. fsy091. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsy091
View the abstract. 

How herring learn from their elders

Young Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) learn migration behavior by joining up with older fish, according to a new paper co-authored by Puget Sound Institute Lead Ecosystem Ecologist Tessa Francis. The paper, published this month in the ICES Journal of Marine Science, showed how this behavior leads to greater spatial variability in biomass, and that commercial fishing could disproportionately affect some herring populations.
Citation:
Alec D MacCall, Tessa B Francis, André E Punt, Margaret C Siple, Derek R Armitage, Jaclyn S Cleary, Sherri C Dressel, R Russ Jones, Harvey Kitka, Lynn C Lee, Phillip S Levin, Jim McIsaac, Daniel K Okamoto, Melissa Poe, Steve Reifenstuhl, Jörn O Schmidt, Andrew O Shelton, Jennifer J Silver, Thomas F Thornton, Rudi Voss, John Woodruff, Handling editor: Ken Andersen. (2018). A heuristic model of socially learned migration behaviour exhibits distinctive spatial and reproductive dynamics. ICES Journal of Marine Science. fsy091. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsy091
View the abstract. 

Removal of creosote-treated pilings in Puget Sound. Photo courtesy of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.

Removal of creosote-treated pilings may assist herring recovery

Thousands of abandoned wood pilings — the ghosts of piers and docks past — are located throughout Puget Sound. Most of them are treated with creosote, a toxic chemical used to preserve wood that contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a class of chemicals that are also associated with oil spills and burning of fossil fuels.
While creosote-treated pilings are used less for construction of new piers, scientists at two state agencies are now studying the impacts of existing pilings on herring and shellfish populations along with the effectiveness of removal projects.
Read the story by Megan Feddern in Salish Sea Currents.

Removal of creosote-treated pilings in Puget Sound. Photo courtesy of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.

Removal of creosote-treated pilings may assist herring recovery

Thousands of abandoned wood pilings — the ghosts of piers and docks past — are located throughout Puget Sound. Most of them are treated with creosote, a toxic chemical used to preserve wood that contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a class of chemicals that are also associated with oil spills and burning of fossil fuels.
While creosote-treated pilings are used less for construction of new piers, scientists at two state agencies are now studying the impacts of existing pilings on herring and shellfish populations along with the effectiveness of removal projects.
Read the story by Megan Feddern in Salish Sea Currents.