Forage Fish

Forage fish are small, schooling, plankton-feeding pelagic species, such as anchovies, sardines, herring, menhaden, and capelin, that move energy from plankton to predators. They are a high-biomass trophic link feeding seabirds, marine mammals, and larger fish, so their abundance controls predator breeding success. Stocks swing widely with ocean conditions and are prone to collapse under combined fishing and environmental stress, the Peruvian anchoveta crash of 1972 being the classic case. Ecosystem-based management reserves a portion of the stock as prey, capping exploitation below the single-species maximum sustainable yield to protect dependent predators.