Fact Sheets //

Herring eggs can’t get away from disaster

Don’t build new risks into herring’s nursery. RBT2 and WCOP would add different pressures to the same nearshore waters. Pacific herring should not have to absorb both.

Fact sheet floast on top of a swarm of juvenile herring are surounded by bright blue waters and rich yellow and brown kelp.
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Herring FSDownload

Herring and other small forage fish feed our ocean food web. Herring lay their eggs on eelgrass and seaweed in shallow coastal water.1 Once laid, the eggs can’t leave – if habitat is damaged or oil reaches shore,2 they have no way to escape. Two projects could harm herring in the Fraser River Estuary. Roberts Bank Terminal 2 (RBT2) would reshape shallow water habitat.3 The West Coast Oil Pipeline (WCOP)4 would add the risk of oil-spills and disturbance.

86-100% of sampled herring eggs died or failed to hatch normally at three oiled shorelines after the 2007 Cosco Busan spill.5

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Fraser Estuary eelgrass is vital habitat for young herring

  • Eelgrass is where herring life begins.6
  • Fraser estuary eelgrass is nursery habitat for young herring.7
  • ‘Habitat offsets’ cannot replace what is lost.8

Construction disturbs herring and reduces forage fish productivity9

  • To herring, boat noise can sound like danger.10
  • The federal panel reviewing RBT2 predicted it would affect forage fish.11
  • Uncertainty is not proof of safety.

An oil spill can devastate a herring spawn

  • A herring egg cannot get away from an oil spill.
  • One spill can devastate an exposed spawn.12
  • Persistent contaminants can accumulate through herring predators like salmon, and build up in killer whales.13

Herring support the coastal food web14

  • Herring feed the coast. 
  • Herring – whether as eggs, juveniles or adults- are a vital food source for fish, birds and marine mammals.
  • A spawn feeds much more than the next generation of herring.

Notes and references

  1. Dingwall JT, Qualley J, Thompson M, Long S, Bates AE. 2026. Vegetation preference and the puzzle of abandonment: high-quality spawning habitat remains unused by Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii). Marine Environmental Research. 218:108067. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2026.108067.
  2. Incardona JP, Vines CA, Anulacion BF, Baldwin DH, Day HL, French BL, Labenia JS, Linbo TL, Myers MS, Olson OP, et al. 2011. Unexpectedly high mortality in Pacific herring embryos exposed to the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 109(2). doi:10.1073/pnas.1108884109. Cited p. E53–E54, Fig. 4. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1108884109
  3. Review Panel for the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project. 2020. Federal review panel report for the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project. Ottawa (ON): Impact Assessment Agency of Canada. Cat. No.: En106-229/2020E-PDF. ISBN 978-0-660-33786-9. 627 p. Cited report p. 142, 189–194; corresponding PDF p. 155, 202–207. https://iaac-aeic.gc.ca/050/documents/p80054/134506E.pdf
  4. Government of Alberta. 2026. West coast oil pipeline project: submission by the Government of Alberta to the Major Projects Office for listing under the Building Canada Act. Edmonton (AB): Government of Alberta. 89 p. Cited PDF p. 5–9, 50, 57–61, 85–88. https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/a529e3da-6368-43d7-af43-74b1773be517/resource/6e43e4b4-3dfe-4c28-b723-116b6cab19ea/download/west-coast-oil-pipeline-project-submission-to-mpo.pdf
  5. Incardona et al. 2011.
  6. Dingwall et al. 2026.
  7. Gordon DK, Levings CD. 1984. Seasonal changes of inshore fish populations on Sturgeon and Roberts Bank, Fraser River Estuary, British Columbia. West Vancouver (BC): Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Fisheries Research Branch, West Vancouver Laboratory. Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences No. 1240. Cited report p. 1, 9; corresponding PDF p. 7, 15. https://waves-vagues.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/library-bibliotheque/21788.pdf
  8. Review Panel for the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project 2020.
  9. Review Panel for the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project 2020.
  10. van der Knaap I, Ashe E, Hannay D, Ghoul Bergman A, Nielsen KA, Lo CF, Williams R. 2022. Behavioural responses of wild Pacific salmon and herring to boat noise. Mar Pollut Bull. 174:113257. Cited PDF p. 5–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.113257
  11. Review Panel for the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project 2020.
  12. Incardona et al. 2012.
  13. Fisheries and Oceans Canada. 2018. Recovery strategy for the Northern and Southern Resident Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) in Canada. Ottawa (ON): Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series. x + 84 p. Cited report p. 18, 54; corresponding PDF p. 28, 64. https://wildlife-species.canada.ca/species-risk-registry/virtual_sara/files/plans/Rs-ResidentKillerWhale-v00-2018Aug-Eng.pdf
  14. Surma S, Pitcher TJ, Kumar R, Varkey D, Pakhomov EA, Lam ME. 2018. Herring supports Northeast Pacific predators and fisheries: insights from ecosystem modelling and management strategy evaluation. PLoS One. 13(7). Cited PDF p. 1, 17, 20. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0196307

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