Seiners scooped up sets of maturing herring on Saturday and Sunday as the Alaska Department of Fish and Game opened this year’s commercial sac roe herring fishery in waters off the east shore of Kruzof Island from Shoals Point north to Mountain Point, and extending east to 135 degrees 32 minutes west longitude.

Fishing efforts shifted north today. At 9:45 a.m., ADF&G announced that the fishery would open at 10:15 a.m. in Hayward Strait and the southern portion of Krestof Sound. 

The Sitka Sound guideline harvest limit is 36,720 tons of herring, which is 20 percent of ADF&G’s 183,599-ton forecast for the 2025 herring return.

Harvest this year is expected to be well below the GHL, and could be less than last year’s total harvest of  12,678 tons or 25.3 million pounds.

Since fewer than three seafood processors are participating in the fishery this year, ADF&G will keep all harvest data confidential in accordance with state statute regarding fisheries with limited processor participation. ADF&G Area Management Biologist Aaron Dupuis said during a preseason meeting last week that it’s the first time in the history of the Sitka Sound herring fishery that harvest data will be confidential. 

In a phone call with the Sentinel today, Dupuis said that the catch this weekend "was a little bit less than I had expected."

He said that was mostly because "the fish were on the Kruzof shoreline" over a "jagged, horrible bottom" that makes seiners "conservative with where they're setting their nets."

"Weather was really poor too," Dupuis said, noting that harvest today should be "much better."

"Hayward is a good spot to fish, and the weather's nice," he said.

Dupuis said that F&G this morning sampled a test set in Hayward Strait and found herring with an average weight of 180 grams, 54 percent of which were females, with an average 13.7 percent mature roe content, one of the highest mature roe contents that Dupuis has seen in the fishery.

He said that while F&G located herring in Promisla Bay this morning, the department "chose to direct the fishery into Hayward" and "didn't entertain test sets in Promisla this morning."

Today's opening off northeast Kruzof will continue "as long as the fish quality stays up," and closing time should be announced by 4 p.m., Dupuis said.

The first 2025 sac roe opening kicked off at 2 p.m. Saturday and closed at 6 p.m. that evening.  

F&G's daily aerial surveys started March 12, but Saturday was the first time spawning was seen. About 0.3 nautical miles of herring spawn was measured near Magic Island, and Indian River.

Many Sitkans were drawn to Magic Island, near Halibut Point Recreation Area, and other such viewpoints Saturday to see herring spawning and jumping, and watch congregations of birds and marine mammals feeding on the fish.  People caught herring with cast nets and jigs near shore, while others placed hemlock boughs in spawning grounds throughout the Sound to initiate the customary and traditional harvest of herring eggs on branches.

F&G sampled two test sets of herring on Saturday, beginning in Promisla Bay, where herring were found with an average weight of 18 grams and an average 9.5% mature roe.

After a midday test set near Inner Point turned up herring averaging 186 grams with an average 11.6% mature roe, the department at about 1 p.m. called the first opening of this year to start at 2 p.m. in the area of Inner Point.

Shortly after that 1 p.m. announcement, F&G expanded the open area south to Shoals Point, as fishermen had reported that herring were moving that way. 

Fishing continued Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the same area off east Kruzof; no test sets were conducted Sunday. 

Department personnel in a float plane on Sunday tracked 3.3 nautical miles of herring spawn “along the Sitka Road System from Sandy Beach to Harbor Point and on the southern end of Kasiana Island,” F&G said in an announcement on Sunday evening. 

“Humpback whales were observed in northern Sitka Sound and were distributed between Low Island and Mountain Point,” F&G said Sunday. “Sea lions were observed near Inner Point."

Also on Sunday, F&G research vessels surveyed "from Shoals Point to Eastern Bay and from Halibut Point to Watson Point.

"Scattered schools of herring were seen throughout the survey area," F&G said. "Herring schools were observed tight to the beach from Shoals Point to Inner Point. Large concentrations of herring were observed along Kruzof Island from Shoals Point to Inner Point and within Promisla Bay.”

The next fishery update is expected at 4 p.m. today on VHF channel 10 and on F&G's website.