By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
No commercial sac roe herring fishery opener took place over the weekend, although one of three test sets in Sitka Sound located fish of commercial market quality, the Department of Fish and Game announced Sunday.
Two test sets, one at Lisianski Point and another near Bieli Rock, located schools of herring, but those fish did not meet the department guideline of at least 10 percent mature roe for opening a commercial seine fishery.
A third set in Eastern Channel pulled up fish with 11.9 percent mature roe and an average weight of 122 grams, Fish & Game reported. With other factors than size and roe content to consider, fishery managers did not call for an opening, although a number of seiners sailed to Eastern Channel Sunday in anticipation.
“That’s kind of what we expected for this timing on the first two,” ADFG Area Management Biologist Aaron Dupuis told the Sentinel today. “The last test set done in Eastern Channel was good, that was the quality the fishery was looking for, but we were not able to get another test set to verify that as what we were looking for. And the biomass of fish didn’t end up materializing and that ended up with us not opening the fishery.”
A kayaker paddles near the fishing tender Steelhead this morning in Eastern Anchorage. Tenders and seiners are congregating in Sitka in preparation for the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. Test sets taken over the weekend showed one set of fish taken in Eastern Channel met roe percentage and weight standards for a commercial harvest. The fishery went on 2-hour notice on Saturday. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
He spoke from a department research vessel, which was making another herring survey this morning. The department also was continuing to monitor the Sitka Sound herring schools from the air.
“Nuts and bolts, we need to have the quality and have the fishable biomass,” Dupuis said.
Dupuis stressed that maintaining a reasonable opportunity for subsistence harvest of herring eggs remains a high priority for the department.
“The other part that goes into our decision-making process… we’re considering several factors on how a commercial opening might affect reasonable opportunity for subsistence… We’re extending similar considerations when we authorize test setting,” he said.
Addressing complaints by subsistence advocates about herring mortality from test sets, Sunday’s fishery update by Fish and Game said:
“Herring mortality associated with test sets is typically minimal and there is no evidence that the small number of fish taken has any measurable impact on the subsistence fishery. Nevertheless, to ensure reasonable opportunity for subsistence harvest of herring roe... all test setting occurred outside the commercial closed waters and core subsistence areas… (and) the number of test sets was kept to the minimum amount necessary to determine roe quality.”
The department has said it anticipates a guideline harvest level of 20,000 tons with an upper limit of 33,304 tons.
