TRUCK FIRE – Firefighters knock down a fire in a Ford Explorer truck in Arrowhead Trailer Park in the 1200 block of Sawmill Creek Road Saturday evening. One person received fire-related injuries and was taken to the hospital, Sitka Fire Department Chief Craig Warren said, and the truck was considered a total loss. The cause of the fire is under investigation, Warren said. The fire hall received the call about the fire at 5:33 p.m., and one fire engine with eight firefighters and an ambulance were dispatched, he said. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

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Daily Sitka Sentinel

Herring Spotted, Seiners on Standby

By KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writer
    Alaska Department of Fish & Game reports that an aerial survey this morning showed herring congregating in the trench between Beili Rock and Inner Point.
    The department’s research boat Kestrel and test fishing crews spotted a promising group of fish in the shallows of Kruzof Island Sunday but couldn’t set on it because the boats didn’t have shallow draft nets.
    “I just went flying and the picture looked slightly different from yesterday,” ADF&G Sitka Area Management Biologist Eric Coonradt said this morning. “Everything is probably back in the trench because the Siginakas and Eastern Bay and all those areas seem to be devoid of herring predators.”
    Although many permit holders have been delayed arriving because of bad weather, the commercial fleet was placed on two-hour notice Sunday and Coonradt said he expects to have an opening some time this week.
    Test sets to date have yielded less than desirable mature roe counts and gram weights to conduct a commercial opening for what ADF&G would like. Seafood industry decision makers have not expressed their needs, Coonradt said.
    “That is still up in the air,” he said. “Nobody really answered that question for us, but generally we are looking at something very similar to what we looked at last year.”

Pat Alexander raises her hand to ask a question Saturday afternoon at an Alaska Department of Fish and Game informational meeting on the upcoming Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery.  About 100 people attended the meeting. Commercial and subsistence herring fishers posed questions to ADF&G fisheries biologists who presented herring management research. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

    Coonradt said they would probably fish on something greater than 110 grams and close to 11 percent mature roe.
    “We were close to that in our first sample,” Coonradt said. “And then (Sunday’s) samples were poor. But we did find another very large body of fish over on the Kruzof shore, but we were unable to get a sample of it because nobody had a shallow net and the fish were extremely shallow. That was where we sent the Kestrel first thing this morning, and they’re saying that body of fish has now moved back off and is back in the trench; due to the weather they have gone deep. When the weather breaks we will see them coming out again.”
    Sunday’s vessel surveys show large schools of herring in shallow shoreline waters of eastern Kruzof Island north of Inner Point, in Eastern Bay, and around the Siginaka Islands. The survey covered Sitka Sound from Cape Burunof to Hayward Strait. Weather was poor, no herring or herring spawn was observed and conditions for observing whales from the air were poor.
    The highest concentration of herring predators was observed between Bieli Rock, Inner Point and Hayward Strait and approximately 400 sea lions were observed holding off the rock piles in several large groups.
    Fish and Game said two successful test sets were conducted Sunday:
    A 100-ton set by the F/V Perseverance held 3.4 percent mature roe, 6.3 percent immature roe, an 82-gram average weight, and were 49.3 percent female.
    A 75-ton set by the F/V Infinate Legacy held 1.8 percent mature roe, 6.8 immature roe, 67 gram average weight, and 45.9 percent female.
    A Thursday test fishery by the F/V Hukilau in Promisla Bay was a 250-ton set yielding a 109 gram average, 9.04 mature roe, 2.71 immature roe, and 49 percent female.
    This year’s guideline harvest level is 12,869 tons based on a 20-percent harvest rate of a forecasted mature biomass of 64,343 tons. This year’s forecast is a boost from the 55,637 tons seen in 2018, but less than the 2016 and 2017 forecasts of 74,707 and 73,245 tons respectively.
    Last year the GHL quota was 11,128 tons, but the fishery closed after seiners caught 2,926 tons in a cooperative fishery that was searching for “market-value” herring roe. Processors wanted herring that weighed an average of 125-130 grams. Processors buy herring from the fleet and harvest roe for sale to Japan.
     A competitive fishery is planned for this year, as no agreement was reached among processors.
    Stormy  weather has slowed the arrival of many boats and processors, Coonradt said.
    “A lot of people got caught elsewhere because of the weather,” he  said. “We’ve got several boats that are stuck in either Yakutat or Cordova or someplace like that, and tenders that are still running here. We are definitely shy some boats, but I think if the weather breaks we will see them show up. We are hoping for an opening this week.
    “Generally when we put the fleet on two-hour notice we are hoping to start fishing fairly quickly. We kind of need this weather to do something slightly different, just laying down a little bit, so we can get a better view of predator distribution and our sonar kicks out when we are out there in the swells so it doesn’t give us a great picture of what is underneath us. It gives us a general idea, but not a perfect picture.”
    The ADF&G held an organizational meeting with fishermen, processors, and interested individuals on Saturday.
    State biologists included in the meeting information showing that although the 2018 spawn deposition survey revealed that spawn mileage was about half that of 2017 – 33.1 nautical miles compared to 64.4 – the spawn extended nearly twice as far offshore, and that egg density was higher. In both 2005 and 2008, a similar situation occurred in which the spawn extended far offshore on Kruzof Island due to the very wide shelf of herring spawning habitat.
    Biologists pointed out that due to exceptional spawn along the Kruzof Island shoreline, the 2018 herring spawning biomass was much higher than was apparent from the spawn mileage alone.
    Of the 2019 pre-fishery biomass of 62,343 tons, 43 percent are expected to be 96-gram, four-year-old herring (24,350 tons). The overall average per herring for 2019 is expected to be 108 grams. Five-year old herring (101 gram average) returning account for 21 percent of the forecast or 12,874 tons; seven-year olds 18 percent (151 gram) or 16,246 tons; three-year olds (80 gram) are projected to be 12 percent of the biomass or 5,746 tons; eight-year olds and older (155 gram) four percent or 3,874 tons; and six-year olds (127 gram) two percent or 1,253 tons.

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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Businesses using the Centennial Hall parking lot testified Tuesday against a proposal to charge them rent in addition to the $200 annual permit fee. City Administrator Hugh Bevan made the proposal in response to the Assembly’s direction to Centennial Hall manager Don Kluting to try to close the $340,000 gap between building revenues and operational costs.


50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Alaska Native Brotherhood Grand President William S. Paul Sr. will be special guest and speaker at the local ANB, Alaska Native Sisterhood Founders Day program Monday at the ANB Hall.

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