Fighting Over Herring—the Little Fish That Feeds Multitudes

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

By Craig Welch for National Geographic

Pacific herring stocks are shadows of their former abundance. But the Canadian government wants to reopen fishing off British Columbia. 

The Pacific herring—an oily, silvery, schooling fish—is rarely high on the list of marine animals people fret about. But for the second straight year, the Canadian government has ignited a skirmish in British Columbia by moving to let fishing nets scoop up spawning herring, despite objections from scientists, Native people, and even commercial fishing groups.

>Read full story here<