Pacific herring are the foundation of the coastal food web. They are a forage fish that gives life to the whole ecosystem from salmon, to surf scoters, to sea wolves, to humpback whales.
Unfortunately herring populations are perilously low compared to their historical abundance in the Strait of Georgia, which is home to nearly half of the remaining population of Pacific herring in British Columbia. These fish are heavily harvested from November to March.
Public attention is usually focused on the herring roe fishery which typically opens in early spring and harvests herring to extract their eggs as they gather to spawn. The spring spawning event is a natural spectacle which turns the dreary grey coastline into a tropical turquoise for a few weeks of the year, and photographers and wildlife enthusiasts descend on the shores. But another, less publicized herring fishery takes place each winter in the Strait of Georgia before the herring start to spawn.
This fishery, which often casts its nets under cover of darkness and uses light to attract the fish to the surface, is the Food and Bait and Special Use fisheries.
The Food and Bait and Special Use fisheries typically target herring in the fall and winter before the fish spawn, capturing both resident and migratory populations of herring as they migrate to the coast. These fisheries target herring to use as bait in other fisheries, source aquariums with feed, convert herring into fish meal or fish oil for livestock, aquaculture feed, pet food and fertilizer, and for human consumption.
This season’s Food and Bait Fishery for Pacific herring in the Strait of Georgia opened on November 29, 2024, and is scheduled to remain open until February 12, 2025. With a quota of 2,100 short tons, this harvest removes an essential food source from the ecosystem at a scale difficult to ignore.
To put it into perspective, this year’s quota for the herring Food and Bait fishery is equivalent to 700 African elephants, 350 killer whales, or 1,400 Honda Civics in weight. The fishery closed on February 12, 2025 with a total harvest of 2,017 tons; however, fishers will have the opportunity to fish un-fished quota from the Food and Bait fishery in the roe herring seine fishery this spring. While these numbers are staggering, this is just a small fraction of the herring slotted for removal in the Strait of Georgia this year, with the overall quota for all commercial herring fisheries set at 11,600 metric tonnes.
The herring roe fishery, which is the largest, often operates under a transferable quota system, allowing fishers to trade quotas between the roe, and the Food and Bait fisheries in the Strait of Georgia.
Herring are worth more in the water
"We are taking this wild, incredibly important fish from the mouths of wild salmon, from the mouths of killer whales and it's going into very low value products. It's unacceptable."
The herring fishery is worth a fraction of what it was in the past — both the landed, wholesale value and exports of herring are in linear decline. Herring contribute more to British Columbia’s economy by feeding other species in the ecosystem than by being caught and processed.
Many of the fish species that eat herring support lucrative commercial and sport fisheries. Wild salmon, halibut and hake all rely on herring as an essential food source.
In 2021, B.C. commercial fisheries for salmon, halibut, and hake were worth around $19.9 million, $43.5 million, and $14.9 million in landed value, respectively. In the same year, the sum landed value of the commercial herring fisheries (Spawn on Kelp, herring Roe, Food and Bait, and Special Use) was just under $9.7 million, making up only around 2.3% of the total value of commercial fishery in B.C. and directly employing about 200-350 fishers in all of B.C. 2023.
The true cost of the commercial herring fishery is far greater than the reward—affecting the entire marine food web, particularly Chinook salmon and the endangered Southern Resident killer whales (SRKWs).
Marine-based tourism such as recreational fishing and whale watching generate more than $5 billion to B.C.’s economy each year. Tidal sport fishing alone employed over 5,000 people, generating $150 million in direct household income in 2022. The whale and salmon populations that rely on herring, like Chinook salmon, humpbacks and killer whales, draw hundreds of thousands of tourists to B.C. annually.
Herring are most valuable to British Columbia as the foundation of the coastal ecosystem. Better management of herring populations is an investment in the economic future of B.C..
THE IMPORTANCE OF HERRING TO CHINOOK SALMON
Pacific Herring are the backbone of the marine ecosystem, playing a critical role in the diets of many species. For Chinook salmon in the Salish Sea, herring make up a significant portion of their diet, especially during the summer months:
- Strait of Georgia: 83%
- Howe Sound: 55%
- Haro Strait | Southern Gulf Islands: 45%
- Juan De Fuca: 69%
Chinook salmon are not only culturally and economically important but also a primary food source for the critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales.
The decline of herring populations—particularly the resident stocks that remain in the Salish Sea year-round—means less food for Chinook salmon, further exacerbating the challenges faced by Southern Resident killer whales.
Pacific herring are not being accurately assessed and managed
“DFO is committed to ensuring there are enough fish to spawn and sustain the stock and this year’s quotas are based on peer-reviewed science.”
Okamoto et al. (2019) highlights a major flaw in how Pacific herring populations are managed: broad-scale stock assessments can mask local (e.g. resident herring) population collapses. While overall herring stocks may seem stable, individual spawning populations can decline or disappear entirely due to overfishing in specific areas.
This is because current fisheries management by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) treats herring as a single, large population rather than a network of smaller, interconnected groups. By ignoring these local differences, management strategies risk creating “cryptic collapses,” where localized declines go unnoticed until they cause serious ecological and economic consequences.
Commercial harvesting creates variability in herring populations, making some areas more vulnerable to collapse while others remain productive. This uneven depletion disproportionately impacts coastal Indigenous communities and marine predators, like seabirds and Southern Resident killer whales, that both directly and indirectly rely on local herring populations.
An issue of timing: How the winter fishery disproportionally affects resident herring, critical to chinook salmon
Herring populations are structured not only by geography, but also by the timing of their spawning, a trait that has a strong genetic basis. This means that different groups of herring spawn at different times of the year, contributing to the overall resilience of the species by spreading out the risk of poor environmental conditions affecting all herring at once.
However, the Food and Bait fishery, that targets pre-spawning aggregations, may be disproportionately depleting certain genetic groups (the “resident” population), leading to a loss of biodiversity and reducing the species’ ability to adapt to environmental changes. Petrou et al. (2021) highlights the critical role of genetic diversity in Pacific herring and its implications for fisheries management.
Instead of managing herring as one homogenous unit (classified by DFO as the “migratory” population), DFO should account for both spatial and temporal diversity in herring populations to avoid unintentionally driving population collapse of resident herring stocks, thus compromising the species’ role in marine ecosystems
Recent research has highlighted that herring population diversity is essential for the survival of juvenile Chinook salmon. Resident stocks, which do not migrate out of the Strait of Georgia after their first summer, provide a crucial year-round food source for salmon.
The Food and Bait fishery disproportionately targets these resident stocks, reducing their diversity and making it harder for Chinook to find high-value prey.
Juvenile Chinook salmon grow larger and faster in areas where herring make up a greater proportion of their diet and there is a growing body of evidence that suggests growth and size during their first summer in the ocean are key factors in the survival rates of Chinook.
Removing resident herring from the ecosystem could have severe cascading effects, ultimately threatening the long-term survival of both Chinook salmon and the species that depend on them.
THE IMPACT ON SOUTHERN RESIDENT KILLER WHALES
The endangered Southern Resident killer whales are already facing a severe food shortage, with research showing they have been in an energy deficit for six of the last 40 years.
According to DFO, the three biggest threats to their survival are:
- Reduced prey availability and accessibility
- Acoustic and physical disturbances
- Contaminants in the marine environment
In a Science Advisory Report, DFO stated that “a primary objective in the Recovery Strategy for resident killer whales is to ensure that resident killer whales have an adequate and accessible food supply” (p. 3).
Despite the federal government implementing salmon fishery closures to help Southern Resident killer whales, herring fisheries continue largely unchecked.
The irony is clear: Chinook salmon fisheries are being restricted at a great sacrifice to commercial and recreational fishers to protect SRKWs, yet the very food that sustains Chinook populations—Pacific herring—continues to be heavily exploited.
MORE PROTECTION IN PUGET SOUND FOR PACIFIC HERRING
Herring fisheries just a few kilometres across the border from the Strait of Georgia in Puget Sound, USA operate under a limited-entry system and close if the amount of herring caught exceeds 10% of the spawning biomass. In 2024, Puget Sound herring catch totaled just 74 short tons, a fraction of the 2,100 short tons set for the Strait of Georgia’s Food and Bait fishery (and overall quota of 11,600 metric tonnes tons for all commercial herring fisheries) in the 2025 fishing season. In Puget Sound genetic variation of Pacific herring substocks is more widely recognized. For example, significant genetic structure exists among herring populations like the Cherry Point and Squaxin Pass populations. These two groups are genetically distinct from other Puget Sound and Strait of Georgia herring, likely due to differences in spawn timing (Cherry Point) and geographic isolation (Squaxin Pass).
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife recognizes that the unique genetic and behavioral traits found in Pacific herring highlight the importance of targeted conservation and management efforts to preserve genetic diversity in Puget Sound and Strait of Georgia herring populations. It is concerning that while Washington recognizes and manages these genetically distinct herring populations, DFO does not acknowledge similar genetic differences in British Columbia herring, potentially overlooking critical conservation needs.
Key Issues:
- Timing: This winter fishery disproportionately impacts resident herring populations in the Strait of Georgia.
- Population decline: Resident herring are likely already severely depleted or locally extinct in many areas.
- Food web disruption: Herring are a crucial food source for Chinook salmon, which in turn sustain critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales.
- Mismanagement: The DFO does not distinguish between resident and migratory herring stocks in its management plans.
- Ecological cost: The benefits of this fishery do not outweigh the damage—Pacific herring are far more valuable in the ocean, supporting wild ecosystems.
A call for science-based, ecosystem-centred management
The winter Food and Bait fishery in the Strait of Georgia and the ongoing removal of herring from the Strait of Georgia is a clear example of short-term exploitation outweighing long-term sustainability. If we are serious about protecting Chinook salmon and Southern Resident killer whales, then we must rethink our approach to herring management.
Instead of prioritizing commercial extraction, DFO must:
- Reevaluate quotas based on ecosystem needs rather than industry demand
- Protect resident herring stocks to maintain biodiversity
- Adopt an ecosystem-based approach that considers the interdependence of species
The depletion of herring populations, especially the resident stocks, poses a direct threat to the survival of Chinook salmon and the critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales. As these species rely on herring for their survival, the current approach to herring management is not only unsustainable but also detrimental to the entire marine ecosystem.
To protect these vital species, it is crucial to adopt science-based, ecosystem-centered management practices that prioritize biodiversity, sustainability, and the interconnectedness of all marine life.
Herring, as the cornerstone of the marine food web, are far more valuable in the water than out. It’s time to shift our focus before it’s too late.
Dive deeper
Watch the global news report here.
Learn more about what Hereditary Chiefs, independent scientists and conservationists are saying about herring in the Salish Sea.
