| dc.description.abstract | The herring spawning in the West Fjord late March/April 1963 were located during the following summer off the Røst Bank. The fishermen lost contact with this herring in the middle of August, but it was again discovered late September 60 miles north of Torsvåg. The herring concentrated in the Deep of Iiigøy in October anel remained there til the end of January 1964. It immigrated the West Fjord for spawning by the end of February and the beginning of March. The total catch in the West Fjord was about 1 500 000 hl which amounts to half of the total output of the winter herring fisheries.
In the summer of 1964 a mixture of fat herring and mature herring was located 100-200 miles to the northwest of Andenes, where USSR drifters made good catches till the end of September. The map Fig. 1 shows the area covered by R/V «Johan
Hjort» 23. October - 2. November, the surface temperature, the hydrographical section taken during the cruise, and the herring schools located. The herring were found at a depth of more than 200 m in a temperature of about 4 C degrees. It is unlikely that the herring will invade the coast before the spawning migration, most likely in February 1965.
So far the lierring have behaved according to my hypothesis given during the Herring Symposium of ICES in 1961 (Devold, F. 1963): this herring do not migrate to the Polar Front after spawning in Norwegian coastal waters. It remains during the feeding period off Northern Norway. But it is already clear that a single autumn in this area do not push the spawning forwards to such a degree that it have to go to the Skagerack for spawning. The preamble of fisheries for mature herring off North Norway has allready started, but we can not expect any great invasion of mature Atlanto-Scandian herring into Skagerack before the North Norwegian herring period has terminated. | en_US |
