What Limits Clupeoid Production

Abstract

This review paper explores a number of hypotheses on the control of clupeoid populations. The following are discussed: the effect of fishing; egg mortality (predation); larval mortality (the critical period) with a consideration of starvation and predation and the biotic and abiotic factors that may be involved; larval transport and the oceanographic features that cause it; variable egg production; interspecific competition; and the effect of localized (e.g. storms and upwellings) and widespread (El Niño) oceanographic events. A review of the paleosedimentary record is also given showing the magnitude of natural fluctuations when no fishing occurred. Recent resurgences in clupeoid populations are reviewed and suggested causes are analyzed.