By Sentinel Staff
Beginning today, the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery will be open daily between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. south of Sitka in the vicinity of Deep Inlet and Aleutkina Bay, as well as between Povorotni Point and Astrid Cape, the Department of Fish and Game announced late Tuesday.
Povorotni point is 7-1/2 miles south of Sitka on the west coast of Baranof Island, and the distance from there to Astrid Cape is 18-1/2 miles by air, but encompassing a much longer shoreline. Necker Bay and Whale Bay are excluded from the sac roe herring opening, Fish and Game said.
Seiners have pursued herring for a little over a week so far this year. Fishing began around the Magoun Islands, but Fish and Game shifted the fishing effort southward in recent days.
Tuesday’s opening was conducted between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. in an area from Aleutkina Bay in the north to Kanga Bay and Peisar Island in the south.
Tuesday’s harvest numbers are not yet public, but the fleet netted 2,150 tons of herring Monday for a season total of 16,400 tons, ADFG said. The guideline harvest level this year is 45,164 tons.
Active herring spawn was sighted along 6.7 nautical miles of beaches in the Magoun, Siginaka and Kasiana islands. The department also noted spawn along Sitka’s road network north of town.
All told, ADFG flights have tallied 48.6 nautical miles of spawn in Sitka Sound this season.
A map provided by the Department of Fish and Game shows the areas closed to commercial fishing (lined area at top) and the large areas open to seiners in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. Areas are open from Aspid Cape in the south to Povorotni Point in the north and a marked area in Aleutkina Bay and Deep Inlet.
(ADF&G graphic provided)
