The Sequel makes a set during the fifth opening of the 2015 sac roe herring fishery, on March 22. (Photo courtesy of Big Dog Fish Company)
Seiners landed almost 4,000 tons of herring in the first opening of the Sitka Sound Sac Roe Herring fishery on Thursday (3-17-16).
The Alaska Department of Fish & Game says the herring met expectations, but there is some concern that spawning is getting off to an early start.
The Alaska Department of Fish & Game opened fishing along the shoreline of Kruzof Island, about 10 miles northwest of Sitka, at 2:45 PM on Thursday.
Fishing closed a little over 2 hours later, at 5:05 PM.
Area management biologist Dave Gordon says the harvest was consistent with this year’s slightly lower expectations for fish weight and roe content.
Sample fishing prior to the opening produced herring weighing between 120-130 grams — about 20 grams less than peak herring seasons eight years ago.
Gordon says the roe recovery rate was about 11 percent — or in other words, for every 100 pounds of herring landed, 11 pounds are the valuable egg sacs. The herring are frozen whole at plants in Sitka and Petersburg, and shipped to Asia for additional processing. Sac roe is marketed as a delicacy in Japan.
The fleet stood down on Friday, to allow processors to catch up. Gordon says another, even larger biomass of herring has moved into the same area where fishing took place on Thursday. He expects the second opener will occur in that vicinity sometime Saturday (3-19-16).
There are 11,000 tons left to catch in the 2016 Sitka Sound herring quota. Fishing had a fast start this year, and already it’s shaping up to be a race with nature. Gordon says that aerial surveys spotted small areas of spawn north of Inner Point on Kruzof Island, not far from the fishing area.
Herring spawn is relatively unpredictable. In recent years, major spawning hasn’t occured until the last few days of March. But as recently as 2000, there have been major spawning events as early as March 21.
