The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is warning governments from the fishing nations of the northeast Atlantic to reach a quota sharing agreement on herring in line with scientific advice, or risk a collapse in the stock.
Atlanto-Scandian herring (AS herring), one of Europe’s most iconic and economically important fish stocks, is being driven to "critical levels", said the MSC, and governments are "sleepwalking" into a potential repeat of the 1960s herring crash.
Last week, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) advised a steep cut of 44 percent in AS herring catches, the equivalent to 302,932 metric tons.
