Atlantic herring in the US are assessed as a single unit, yet fishery managers divide the annual catch limit (ACL) among four sub-areas to prevent overfishing of individual spawning components

The distribution of total ACL among these areas is based on coarse estimates of the size of each spawning component from the 1990S and some educated guesses on the seasonal mixing rate between them. The fishery management plan acknowledges that little is known about US herring population structure and migration patterns, and that these have likely changed over time. Regardless, the areabased sub-ACL percentages have remained static since the system was created. This project would partner with knowledgeable commercial fishing captains to collect samples from each of the known herring spawning grounds in the US and adjacent canadian waters. Using low-coverage whole-genome sequencing, the team will evaluate the genomic population structure among these putative spawning groups. A panel of single nucleotide polymorphisms (snps) will be identified that can reliably discriminate between the sub-populations. This genomic tool would allow fishery managers to set area-specific quotas that prevent unsustainable levels of fishing on each spawning component, thereby augmenting the productivity and resilience of the overall herring population and fishery.