Sentinel Staff
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game observed another 18.7 nautical miles of active herring spawning in an aerial survey of Sitka Sound today. Another aerial survey is scheduled Thursday. Surveys will continue until the spawn stops.
The Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery has not been officially opened by executive order this season as early test samples this season were below what the department and industry wanted.
Now, with large areas of active spawn visible, basically the fishery will remain closed.
Fish and Game’s annual measuring and mapping of the herring spawn will continue until enough accumulated information is sent to ADF&G’s statewide fisheries scientist Sherri Dressel to work into the herring model.
Today’s survey covered Sitka Sound from Cape Burunof to Salisbury Sound, F&G said in a news release.
Calm winds and clear skies allowed for perfect viewing but no herring schools were observed. The 18.7 miles of active herring spawn was observed along the Kruzof Island shoreline, in the Magoun Islands, and Kresta Point.
A high concentration of herring predators was spotted along Kruzof Island, in Magoun Islands, and Neva Strait.
The cumulative spawning mapped to date is 21.4 nautical miles.
None of this year’s guideline harvest level of 12,869 tons was caught this season as test fisheries were not the quality of herring processors needed for the market. The department’s goal this year was to fish on stock averaging 110 grams weight and close to 11 percent mature roe. Last year the quota was 11,128 tons, but the fishery closed after seiners took just over 2,926 tons in a cooperative fishery.
Continued sampling via dive surveys will help determine the makeup of the 2019 biomass.
ADF&G had expected the pre-fishery biomass of 64,343 tons to have an overall average weight of 108 grams per herring. They estimated 43 percent of the biomass would be 96-gram, four-year-old herring (24,350 tons); 21 percent would be 101 gram five-year old herring (12,874 tons); 18 percent would be 151 gram seven-year-olds (16,246 tons); 12 percent, 80 gram three-year olds (5,746 tons); 4 percent, 155 gram eight-year-olds and older (3,874 tons); and 2 percent, 127 gram six-year olds (1,253 tons).
The current castnet samples for age composition will not be aged for a couple of months, Sitka Area Management Biologist Eric Coonradt said.
