The Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery will go on two-hour notice effective 8 a.m. Sunday, March 17. That means a fishery could open as early as 10 a.m. Sunday morning.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game conducted aerial surveys of Sitka Sound on Friday (3/15/19) but observed no herring or spawn. They observed around 300 sea lions on the rocks and numerous whales in the water near Bieli (bee-lee) Rock. Fish and Game biologist Eric Coonradt says the predator count is a little lower than usual.
“It’s a little light on our sea lion count, but, you know, we expect that to increase as the amount of herring comes into the sound,” he said.
In addition to aerial surveys, a sample of herring was taken in Promisla Bay on Thursday, and the amount of mature roe was at just over 9 percent. Coonradt said it’s close enough to plan for an opening of the fishery soon, but not quite there yet.
“What we’re looking for is probably closer to 11 percent mature roe, the average gram size closer to 115, 120,” said Coonradt. “With schools separating out, we could have that very quickly.”
ADF&G will hold a meeting on Saturday afternoon for seiners and processors to talk about everything from how the scientists came up with the biomass estimate and the guideline harvest level, to subsistence fishing and enforcement concerns.
That meeting will be held in the Westmark Hotel meeting room at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.
