The Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery is on two-hour notice, but seiners remained in the harbor for a second day in a row on Monday, awaiting a call from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to open the fishery.
ADF&G conducted an aerial survey of Sitka Sound at 8 a.m. on Monday, and observed no herring or spawn. The 400 sea lions seen near Bieli Rock (Bee-Lee) on Sunday were down to just “several” according to a press release from the department.
Monday’s three test sets, from Southern Krestof, Double Island and Mills Island, averaged just under 11 percent mature roe, with an average weight of around 100 grams per fish.
Fish and Game biologist Eric Coonradt said the team saw fish concentrated around Eastern Bay and the Siginaka (sig-ah-nah-kah) Islands. The samples from those areas yielded less mature roe and smaller fish than the sample taken earlier last week.
When Coonradt gave the fleet an update on Sunday afternoon, he said they had yet to get a sample from a large biomass sitting off the shore of Kruzof Island, which looked like it promised more mature fish.
But on Monday, it looked like the school near Kruzof had returned to deeper waters west of Bieli (BeeLee) Rock.
The research vessel Kestrel has arrived in Sitka from Petersburg. Test fishing and aerial surveys are expected to continue on a daily basis until an opening is called.
