News

Clupeoids are the world’s most important fish species

2020.1.10

Clupeoids are among the most important commercial fish species according to a new article in Njord, Sweden’s largest newspaper on professional fishing. Clupeoids are mainly used to produce fishmeal and fish oil, but they are also used for human consumption. The most fished clupeoids are anchoveta (Peruvian anchovy) followed by sardinella, herring, Japanese anchovy, sardine, menhaden, Pacific sardine and sprat.

 

Njord notes the amounts of clupeoids caught in 2016 which were:

  1. Anchoveta: 3 192 476 tonnes
  2. Sardinella (several different species): 2 289 830 tonnes
  3. Herring: 1 639 760 tonnes
  4. Japanese anchovies: 1 304 484 tonnes
  5. Sardine: 1 281 391 tonnes
  6. Gulf menhaden (one of several species): 618 719 tonnes
  7. Scarlet: 584 577 tonnes
  8. Japanese sardine (subspecies for Pacific sardine): 531,466 tonnes

In total, 150,000 tonnes of Atlantic menhaden are also fished and approximately 600,000 tonnes of shad (a variety of species). The fishing for clupeoids can vary greatly from year to year because a lot of these species are short-lived, and their reproduction is very dependent on the weather conditions.

 

For comparison, the amounts of the most important pelagic species in Europe in 2016 in the North East Atlantic Ocean were:

  1. Atlantic herring: 1 438 741 tonnes
  2. Blue whiting: 1 194 712 tonnes
  3. Atlantic mackerel: 1 094 066 tonnes
  4. European sprat: 534 341 tonnes
  5. Capelin: 176 972 tonnes
  6. Atlantic horse mackerel: 113 961 tonnes
  7. Sandeel: 73 972 tonnes
  8. Norway pout: 63 376 tonnes

 

Source: http://fiske.zaramis.se/2020/01/02/sillfiskar-ar-varldens-viktigaste-fiskarter/