An effort led by Edinburgh Napier University to help restore Atlantic herring populations on Scotland’s west coast has been launched. The fish, known as silver darlings, were vitally important to the people of Scotland, but stocks dramatically collapsed in the 1970s and never fully recovered.
Since 2018 however, large shoals of spawning herring have been identified off Wester Ross, prompting hope of a resurgence. Now a project, called the West of Scotland Herring Hunt (WOSHH), will aim to work with communities between the Clyde and Cape Wrath, including the Hebrides, to identify spawning habitat and help conserve it.
A new website, scottishherring.org, was launched at the Gairloch Museum this week. It is the first site dedicated to Scottish herring and will be used to share knowledge about the fish, including its ecological, economic and cultural importance to Scotland.
The launch also saw a demonstration of a forthcoming new citizen-science tool. The web app will invite everyone to join in on ‘herring hunts’ and report signs of spawning in the region.
Both the website and the hunting tool have been co-developed by staff and students from Edinburgh Napier’s School of Applied Sciences and the School of Computing, under the guidance of Karen Diele, Professor of Marine Ecology, the lead of WOSHH, and co-investigator Dr Simon Wells. It has been funded by the William Grant Foundation, a non-profit association established to support charitable causes in Scotland.
Professor Diele said: “Healthy spawning habitat could help rebuild inshore herring populations, with potentially positive social and economic impacts, as well as improving biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
“WOSHH will establish connections and dialogue between key stakeholders, promote co-management strategies of inshore waters, and champion the integration of essential spawning grounds into herring management.”
Unlike most other marine fish, reproducing herring relies on specific benthic (on the seabed) spawning habitat. But knowledge of the location and status of this essential habitat is scarce on the west coast of Scotland. The WOSHH project will help determine the location and status of these grounds in inshore waters.
Dr Michelle Frost, WOSHH’s project coordinator explained: “Herring are important to a wide range of species that feed upon them, including not only humans but also sand eels, haddock, cod, many seabirds, porpoise and minke whales.
“By attracting these charismatic species, herring can benefit local communities, increasing income from wildlife tourism.
“Herring themselves feed mostly on plankton and help move energy from the bottom of marine food webs to top predators, functioning as a keystone species.”
Peter Cunningham, biologist from the Wester Ross Fisheries Trust said: “Herring have been so important locally, and our community has a renewed interest in west coast herring now, since we observed large shoals recently near Gairloch for the first time in almost 50 years.”
Dr Karen Buchanan, curator of the Gairloch Museum told us: “We are delighted to add our support to the WOSHH project, which is helping to address urgent research needs in our area, and to host the outreach event today.”
Dr Wells added: “The new herring hunting web-app will increase this project’s inclusivity, since it will allow everyone to contribute as citizen scientists.”
“Herring is important for healthy functional Scottish seas that provide humans and other species with so many benefits,” concluded Professor Diele.
“They deserve our support, so that populations can re-establish where possible.”