Ocean Health
Dear Editor: The management of Sitka’s commercial herring fishery is clearly a disaster. As Aaron Bean pointed out last year, herring are forage fish, but they are being managed as a predator species. Forage fish are pelagic, planktonic feeding fish which provide a main food source for many marine animals (e.g. salmon, whales and halibut). Examples of forage fish include sardines, anchovies, herring, menhaden, squid, krill and smelt. Forage fish are an important keystone species both for humans and for the ecosystem of which they are a part.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s official denial that herring are forage fish allows them to get away with managing herring the same as they manage predator species. Their facile denial of a globally accepted fact is reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts, who by virtue of her power, redefining mountains as valleys.
May, 2016, the federal government NOAA Fisheries established a West Coast (California, Oregon and Washington) ban on new commercial fishing for forage fish (including Pacific sand lance, silversides and certain varieties of herring, smelt and squid). NOAA Fisheries said the move is needed to proactively protect the little fish that play such a critical role in the marine food web. Unfortunately, the ban did not affect existing fisheries for sardines, anchovies and Pacific herring or Alaska. Politics as usual ignored the fact that ecological laws apply all over the planet, even with Southeast Alaska herring.
The ADF&G herring model is an obsolete “single species harvest model” that was abandoned over 40 years ago by fish and wildlife managers worldwide. ADF&G does not use an ecosystem-based “sustainable yield model” which is the standard for modern fisheries management. An ecosystem based “sustainable yield model” is based upon recognizing the relationships among species within the food web to make sure it is balanced. Yet the ADF&G clings to the obsolete “single species harvest model” driven by the herring seiner permit holders to maximize the commercial sac roe harvest. This is without regard for the ecological niche herring plays as a keystone species in overall ocean viability.
The Board of Fish is rigged with commercial fisheries appointees who are deaf to anything but their own narrow short-term commercial interests. It is a model based on greed. ADF&G and the seiners have gotten away with mismanaging this fishery for years while the seiners wiped out all herring commercial fishing sites in Southeast Alaska except for one, the Sitka Sound fishery, which is now on the brink of collapse.
The only evidence we need to prove the extent of the failure of the ADF&G herring model is that the Southeast Alaska herring fishery does not have more herring, but that six of the seven herring fisheries are gone and Sitka’s may be beyond recovery. In 2018, the Sitka sac roe herring fishery was shut down early, falling 8,330 tons short of the ADF&G guideline harvest level. This is the fourth time in six years the herring fishery has shut down before meeting the ADF&G guideline harvest level. Subsistence users suffered the same inability to meet their needs. In spite of last year’s commercial sac roe harvest debacle, ADF&G blithely returned in 2019 with a harvest quota that is even larger than the 2018 quota, which was a bust. One is compelled to wonder what it takes for the ADF&G to break its neurotic attachment to their failed commercial harvest model.
No testimony, letters of protest, crying, yelling or scientific data has been successful in stopping this politically driven plunder of our ocean food web. So, we must do more and do it better. If we don’t, the loss of this keystone herring forage fish will herald the loss of all of those species that will no longer have herring to eat. In addition, it just so happens that this fishery is in direct violation of Title VIII of ANILCA because herring is the foundation subsistence species for the local Native people. And subsistence has priority over all other uses of the herring.
Thus the Sitka Tribe of Alaska has filed a lawsuit in defense of the herring, and other Native groups in the region are weighing in with their support. I am delighted that STA is asserting their tribal sovereignty and seeking to stop the damage to our local ocean food web. But all of us, STA citizens or not, must band together to ban the harvest of forage fish in Alaska just like it is on the coasts of California, Oregon, Washington and Haida Gwaii. There is no scientific or rational reason for the current exclusion of Alaska from the 2016 federal ban on commercial harvest of forage fish.
Lawsuits are expensive. But to continue accepting the status quo will result in the loss of the herring, which cannot be replaced once gone. But STA has limited resources and we all must do whatever we can to help. You can go to the STA website at (www.sitkatribe.org) and click on “recent news” and donate on the “gofundme” link and/or click on direct donation to STA that can be put on credit card. You can also drop by cash or a check at the STA building. Local organizations can collect donations and submit them as a group. Some generous Native artists have contributed art work for a raffle. You could either submit artwork for the raffle, or donate a portion of the sale of an art piece that you create to go to the effort. If you want to know more about how to help, go to “herring rock water protectors” on Facebook and read the posts by Louise Brady as she keeps us informed about this effort.
The first step in this battle is the first Herring Court Date coming up soon on Feb. 19 and 20 at the Sitka court house starting at 8:30 a.m. Our community needs to show up and show support for this important legal action! Sitka, let’s get involved in this! The health of our shared ocean food web is at stake! This is a tide that will lift all of our boats.
Gunalcheesh for whatever support you can give!
Patricia L. Dick,
Dr. Ronald E. Dick, Sitka
