MYSTERY ABOUT DISAPPEARANCE OF HERRINGS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 45, 30 September 1949, Page 7

MYSTERY ABOUT DISAPPEARANCE OF HERRINGS

A mysterious disappearance over the last four years of this country’s major “money crop,” the herring, is the talk of Iceland. Previously these fish used to appear annually around the north-western coast in unestimable numbers. They were like “mountains in the sea,” fishermen say. . There used to be areas of many square miles where an almost solid mass of herrings extended downward to depths of 40 to 50 fathoms and actually piled up in squirming hillocks over the sea surface-

Were “Pure Gold” Such herring runs were “pure gold.” They could be literally shovelled into the ship with nets and a full cargo obtained in a few hours. There was a good market all over the world, both for the fish themselves, and for herring oil, which accounted for essentially one-fourth of Iceland’s foreign exchange. Suddenly the herring disappeared. There is every reason to believe that they have moved to some other section of the North Atlantic, but Iceland scientists have been unable to obtain any clue to their whereabout. Some say the disappearance was due to the war. The waters about Iceland became so contaminated with oil that the fish were driven away. Others think the disappearance is due to a warmer ocean the herring being a fish with a delicate adjustment to wate.r temperature.

Melting Ice Cap Still others say the reason is the melting of the Greenland ice cap causing a layer of warm water on the sea surface and forcing the fish to go to great depths. A large herring run occurred during the winter of 1947/48 just outside the harbour of Reykjavik, on the southern coast and local fishermen had a good year. This year, however, the fish did not reappear. They never had been seen here before.

The herring’s life habits, Iceland scientists point out, are completely unknown. Nobody ever has found the breeding grounds.