By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Department of Fish and Game is continuing to assess herring stocks in Sitka Sound, despite the notice given by processors that they do not plan on participating this year.
Aaron Dupuis, assistant area management biologist for Fish and Game, said he started daily aerial surveys on Saturday. The Fish and Game research vessel Kestrel arrives on Thursday.
“We’ll continue aerial surveys,” Dupuis said. “It’s business as usual as far as the department’s assessment is concerned.”
Fish and Game was notified by processors this winter that they don’t plan to participate as buyers in the 2020 Sitka Sound sac roe fishery.
Biologists have forecast that 80 percent of this year’s run will be 4-year-old herring, small fish with roe below marketable size. Another factor disrupting the market is the COVID-19 pandemic, said Rich Riggs of Silver Bay Seafoods.
Dupuis said the department will continue assessing stocks in the same way as last year.
“The reason we’re doing it is to maintain our time series of assessment,” he said. “We’ve been doing the same surveys for years and years. We don’t want to interrupt our data.”
There was no commercial fishery last year, after Fish and Game was unable to find schools with herring of marketable size for a fishery.
Dupuis said no herring or spawn has been observed since the aerials surveys started Saturday. High concentrations of herring predators were seen between Bieli Rock, Inner Point and Hayward Strait. Numerous whales seen in deeper waters north and west of Bieli Rocks.
“Predator numbers and locations are normal for this time of year.” Dupuis said.
Although he has not heard of anyone wanting to fish this year since he spoke to processors, Dupuis said, “The fishery isn’t closed. A processor could say we have boats, we have processing capacity, we want to fish,’ and we need to be ready for that. The likelihood is extremely low at this point, but strange things happen so we have to be prepared for it.”
The next Fish and Game update on the Sitka Sound herring run is expected on Thursday.
