History of the Herring Fishery and Review of Artificial Propagation Techiques for Herring in Japan

Abstract

According to written records, a Japanese herring fishery has been carried out since 1447, but statistical catch data were not recorded until 1870. The Japanese herring fishery has harvested the so-called Hokkaido spring herring, which spawned near the coast of Hokkaido from March to May. In 1897, the landings reached a peak of 975 000 tonnes but the resources were depleted year by year and this stock became extinct in the 1950's. During the 1960's, Japanese fleets were exploiting the herring stocks in the Northwest Pacific. However, since 1970 these fisheries were limited in their operations by the Japan–Soviet Fisheries Committee and eventually ceased in 1976. At the present time, the Japanese catch of herring is at a low level of several thousand tonnes. The Japanese license system was not designed to conserve the resources, and herring studies were weighted to fishing forecasts only. Many Japanese scientists believed that the strength of herring year-classes fluctuated with changes in food conditions in the early larval stages. Based on artificial egg production techniques developed recently in Japan, herring eggs were successfully hatched, and larvae were cultured artificially and raised to 66.3-mm juveniles with a high survival rate.