Predicting density-dependent somatic growth in Norwegian spring-spawning herring

  • Erling Kåre Stenevik
  • Sondre Nedreås Hølleland
  • Katja Enberg
  • Åge Sigurd Høines
  • Are Salthaug

Publikasjonsdetaljer

  • Journal: ICES Journal of Marine Science, vol. 79, p. 1340–1352, Saturday 9. April 2022
  • Utgiver: Oxford University Press
  • Internasjonale standardnumre:
    • Trykt: 1054-3139
    • Elektronisk: 1095-9289
  • Lenke:

Density-dependent growth, which might influence the effects of fisheries on a population, is often ignored when management strategies are evaluated, mainly due to a lack of appropriate models readily available to be implemented. To improve on this, we investigated if somatic growth in Norwegian spring-spawning herring (Clupea harengus) depends on cohort density using a formulation of the von Bertalanffy growth function on cohorts from 1921 to 2014 and found a significant negative correlation between estimated asymptotic length and density. This clearly indicates density-dependent effects on growth, and we propose a model that can be used to predict the size-at-age of Norwegian spring-spawning herring as a function of herring density (the abundance of two successive cohorts) in short-term predictions of catch advice, and in Management strategy evaluations, including estimation of their reference points such as FMSY.