A newly formed coalition said Wednesday that tougher federal regulations are needed to protect New England’s populations of herring, a forage fish that is critical to both marine ecosystems and Maine’s coastal economy.

Herring are a key food source for everything from whales to cod and are a principal type of bait used by Maine lobstermen. So a coalition of largely conservation groups, organized under the name the Herring Alliance, say they are concerned about a population collapse brought on by overfishing.

The problem, alliance members said Wednesday, is the increase in the number of large, industrial trawlers fishing for Atlantic herring, particularly in the Gulf of Maine. Alliance members called on New England’s fishery regulators, who are meeting in Portland this week, to bolster oversight and limits on these midwater trawlers.

“Every other fishery has been regulated to death by the National Marine Fisheries Service,” Ray Kane, a Massachusetts-based tuna fisherman, said during a conference call with reporters. “[Herring] is just an unregulated fishery and we need to get a handle on it just like we have all of the other fisheries.”

The Herring Alliance is being led by The Pew Charitable Trusts and involves the Conservation Law Foundation, the National Coalition for Marine Conservation, Earthjustice, Oceana, Greenpeace, National Environmental Trust, Natural Resources Defense Council and U.S. PIRG.

The alliance is calling for more accurate accounting of herring landing figures and a boost in the number of “observers” placed on trawlers as monitors. The coalition also wants regulators to require the midwater trawlers to move farther offshore where herring are more abundant.

Peter Baker with the Pew Environment Group said some trawlers often work in pairs using an enormous net longer than a football field suspended between the two ships. Baker said such trawlers can lead to localized depletion of herring schools.

“Not only do they catch herring but they catch everything that feeds on herring,” Baker said.

That is particularly troublesome, Baker and others said, in areas where cod, haddock and other groundfish are feeding on herring. Groundfish populations in much of the Gulf of Maine are severely depleted and subject to stringent fishing regulation.

The New England Fishery Management Council, the regulatory body that manages commercial fisheries from Maine to New Jersey, is discussing management issues for herring, groundfish and other species during its meetings this week.

On Thursday, the council is expected to discuss whether to continue examining alternative management schemes for groundfish. One proposal on the table is to switch to a more localized management system than the current regional regulatory approach.