The Fecundity Of Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasi) in British Columbia Coastal Waters

Abstract

The fecundity of Pacific herring was investigated from a collection of 600 ovaries gathered from various localities along the British Columbia coast during the winter and early spring of 1954–55. It was found that fecundity depended mainly on body length and to a lesser extent on age, independently of its effect on body length. Certain differences in fecundity, found between herring from various localities when die relationship of fecundity to body length was considered, were not found when the relationship between fecundity, body length and age was considered. These differences were attributed to differences in growth rate. Fecundity of herring of same body length and the same age was found to be significantly higher in northern British Columbia than in southern.