On the distribution of larvae and localization of spawning stocks of White Sea herring <Emphasis Type="Italic">Clupea pallasii marisalbi</Emphasis>

On the basis of ichthyoplankton surveys made in June 2004–2005 and 2007, June–July 2010, and July 2011 in these bays and beyond them (in open waters of the White Sea Basin and adjacent areas of the Gorlo) larvae of White Sea herring were absent. Principal aggregations of larvae are found in the Kandalaksha Bay in June 2004–2005 and 2007. In the Onega Bay and in the Dvina Bay surveyed in June 2007 abundance of larvae was ratter low and in June–July 2010 and July 2011 in these bays and beyond them (in open waters of the White Sea Basin and adjacent areas of the Gorlo) larvae of White Sea herring were absent. Within the Kandalasksha Bay, from year to year, there were two disconnected aggregations of larvae. The space between them was situated in the open part of the bay along the transect of the Chupa Estuary and the Umba Estuary. One of the aggregations of larvae occupied the tail of the bay, and the second aggregation occupied the ante-mouth and mouth areas of the Chupa Estuary. It is supposed that these aggregations result from spawning of two independent spawning groups of the White Sea herring spawning in isolated regions of the Kandalaksha Bay. Presence of the bulk of larvae of the White Sea herring within the limits of the Kandakaksha Bay and their almost complete absence at the boundary of the bay with the White Sea Basin and at the boundaries between the Onega Bay and the Dvina Bay and the Basin support the hypothesis on the absence of an exchange with larvae between stocks of the White Sea herring spawning in large bays of the White Sea. The larvae are retained within shallow waters of the Kandalaksha Bay by the system of two-layer water circulation in the areas of spawning of herring in bays and gulfs of the estuarine type. Their drift outside of the Onega Bay and the Dvina Bay may be delimited by frontal divides at their boundaries with the Basin.