Atlantic herring

How it lives

Herring mature at about 3 to 5 years by one source (FishBase gives 2 to 9 years, depending on stock) and typically live 12 to 16 years, with a reported maximum of 25. They spawn every year at traditional sites, laying sticky eggs on gravel, rock or seaweed. Fish at spawning lay roughly 10,000 to 60,000 eggs. Eggs hatch in about 6 to 8 days at 14 to 19 C and about 17 days at 7.5 C. Adults tend to stay deeper by day and rise toward the surface at night.

Where it goes

Norwegian spring-spawning herring move into northern Norwegian fjords for the winter, from about October to January or February. Since around 2010 they have wintered in fjord systems around Andoya, Kvaloya and Kvaenangen. They stay deep, roughly 45 to 180 m down, then leave in spring to spawn between Bergen and Trondheim.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

Least Concern as a species (IUCN, assessed 2009), but status differs by stock. For Norwegian spring-spawning herring, ICES advice published on 5 October 2026 sets 588,004 tonnes of catch for 2027, about 10% above the 2026 advice. Recent year classes have been small and catches rely on fish born in 2016, while larger than average 2021 and 2022 year classes are now reaching spawning age. Catches in 2026 are estimated to exceed the advice by just over 9%. In the US north-west Atlantic, a 2024 assessment lists the stock as overfished under a rebuilding plan. In the North Sea there are four distinct spawning populations, and a fifth, the Zuiderzee herring, is extinct.