Herring as food Herring as food Herrings are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family Clupeidae. They often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast. The most abundant and commercially important species belong to the genus "Clupea", found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea, as well as off the west coast of South America. Three species of "Clupea" are recognized. The main taxon, the Atlantic herring, accounts for over half the world's commercial capture of herrings. Herrings played a pivotal role in the history of marine fisheries
North Atlantic Gyre the central role it plays in the thermohaline circulation, bringing salty water west from the Mediterranean Sea and then north to form the North Atlantic Deep Water. The North Atlantic Gyre traps man-made marine debris in the North Atlantic Garbage Patch, similar to how the North Pacific Gyre traps debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The North Atlantic Gyre forms the Sargasso Sea, noted for its still waters and dense seaweed accumulations. As with many oceanographic patterns, the North Atlantic Gyre experiences seasonal changes. Stramma and Siedler (1988) determined that the gyre expands and contracts with a seasonal variance;