The North Sea herring fishery in the twentieth century

The fishery resources of the North Sea have been among the most intensely exploited during the twentieth century. The most important fish species of this century is the herring (Figure 10.1). The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), founded in 1902, has long disseminated data on North Sea herring catches on a co-ordinated international basis. However, actual management of the herring fishery, along with that of other species, has emerged as an important issue only during the last twenty years.