Neue Erkenntnisse zur Verteilung des Nordseeherings auf die Gebiete der EU und Norwegens

A study by K.R. Patterson of the Marine Lab, Aberdeen, Scottland, presented to the EU comission in June 1997, investigated the distribution of Herring in the North Sea, i. e. the zonal attachment of the stock to EU and Norwegian waters, respectively. Evaluation of data from the ICES International Bottom Trawl Surveys and Herring Acoustic Surveys conducted in the last 10 years showed a wide variation in biomass and zonal attachment, depending on the type of survey used and the season sampled. However, a mean share of 16 % was estimated to be attached to the Norwegian waters . In contrast to earlier analyses based on commercial catches there is little support that this proportion increases with increasing stock size. It is expected that this study will give rise to some discussion on the forthcoming EU-Norwegian consultations on North Sea herring.