Publisher :
Place of publication :
Publication year : 1997
Thematic : Fisheries
Language : English
Note
Records of the herring, Clupea harengus, fishery off the
Swedish coast of BohuslaÈn, in the Skagerrak, date back
to the 10th century. Nine periods, each lasting several
decades, are known during which large quantities of
herring were caught close to the shore. In the 1895±96
season, more than 200 000 tonnes were landed. During
the `interim' periods, which stretched over 50 or
more years, the herring fishery played little role in the
economy of this region. Several other herring ®sheries
in European waters overlap with recent BohuslaÈn
periods whereas the Norwegian spring-spawning herring
and some sardine, Sardina pilchardus, fisheries
exhibit alternating periods. A study of the climatological/
hydrographic scenario of all BohuslaÈn periods
and those of herring in the English Channel and the
Bay of Biscay showed that, on a decadal scale, they
coincided with times when there was a strong ice
cover off Iceland, severe winters in western Europe
with extremely cold air and water temperatures, a reduction
of westerly winds as indicated by negative
anomalies in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)
index and a minimum of south-westerly winds over
England in response to meridional migrations of the
belt of westerly winds. Periods of the Norwegian
spring-spawning herring and sardines in the English
Channel coincided with inverse climatological/hydrographic
situations. It is concluded that climate
variation governed the alternating herring and sardine
periods.
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Keywords : Pithecheir melanurus
Encoded by : Pauline Carmel Joy Eje
