Life History Atlantic herring are oceanic plankton-feeding fish that occur in large schools, and inhabit coastal and continental shelf waters from Virginia to Labrador. Herring are an important food source for many species of fish, whales, and seabirds. Herring spawn as early as August in Nova Scotia and eastern Maine, and during October and November in the southern Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank and Nantucket Shoals. Spawning habitat consists of rock, gravel, or sand bottoms, ranging in depth from 50 to 150 feet. Females produce 30,000 to 200,000 eggs each, which sink to the bottom and stick in layers or clumps to the bottom, seaweed, and other substrates.
Schools produce so many eggs that the ocean bottom is covered in herring eggs.
Eggs hatch in 10 to 12 days depending on water temperature. The herring fishery in New England developed in the late 19th century, spurred by the development of the canning industry. The lobster fishery developed about the same time, creating a market for herring as bait. Today, landings are lower, ranging from 80 to 100 million pounds. An aggressive foreign fishery developed on Georges Bank in the early 1960s, with landings peaking at 800 million pounds in 1968.