Herring population loses migration 'memory' after heavy fishing

Nature Podcast

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Science, News, Technology

4.4 • 859 Ratings

🗓️ 7 May 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

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Summary

00:46 How fishing activity altered the migration pattern of Herring

Selective fishing of older herring has resulted in a large shift in the migration pattern of these fish, according to new research. For years, herring have visited sites on the south coast of Norway to spawn, but in 2020 a rapid shift was seen, with the fish instead visiting areas hundreds of kilometres to the north. Researchers have concluded that too many older fish have been removed from these waters, preventing the knowledge of the best spawning grounds being passed to younger, less experienced fish. This finding shows how human activity can affect animal migration, which could have serious consequences for the delicately balanced ecosystems built around them.

Research article: Slotte et al.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	nature in an experiment i don't know yet why is blight so far like it sounds so simple they had no idea
0:10.7	but now the data's i find this not only refreshing but but at some level astounding nature
0:21.5	welcome back to the nature podcast this week, how humans have affected the migration of herring.
0:30.3	And how people are turning to AIs for companionship.
0:34.6	I'm Nick Petri Chow.
0:35.7	And I'm Charmni Bundell.
0:52.5	Music I'm Nick Petrichal. And I'm Charmni Bundell. First up on the show this week, we've got a story about the Norwegian spring spawning herring and how humans have changed their migration patterns.
0:56.6	These fish live mostly in the Norwegian sea, an area of open ocean,
1:00.8	and when it's time for them to breed, many of them travel hundreds of kilometres
1:04.2	to specific areas of the Norwegian coast, where they breed and lay their eggs before heading
1:08.9	back out to the ocean.
1:14.9	These eggs then hatch and the larvae are carried north by the current,
1:19.3	ending up in a different body of water called the Barents Sea, high up in the Arctic,
1:23.9	where they live for a few years before heading to the Norwegian Sea to join the rest of the fish.
1:29.4	This cycle has been going on for a very long time, and it's an important part of a delicate ecosystem. Its regularity is also important for the fishing industry. But beginning in
1:35.9	2020, something unexpected happened, and this pattern abruptly changed. Instead of heading to their
1:43.1	usual spawning areas, the herring headed hundreds of
1:46.4	kilometres further north to breed. Working out why is the subject of a paper in nature this week.
1:54.2	The team behind the research wondered if it could be that young fish weren't being taught
1:59.0	where to go by their elders,
2:03.8	something that's thought to be important for a lot of animal migration.
2:08.8	To find out more, reporter Benjamin Thompson called up one of the authors of the study,
	...

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