The CorvidEYE: A truckload of herring eggs for Tlingit elders
Posted by Enrique Pérez de la Rosa, KCAW | Apr 5, 2019
The Sitka Tribe of Alaska harvested about 700 pounds of herring early Friday, which will be distributed to Tlingit elders throughout Sitka. That’s in addition to about 1000 pounds harvested last week, according to STA staff. (KCAW photo/Enrique Pérez de la Rosa)
Tlingit peoples and other Alaska Natives have relied on and enjoyed herring eggs for generations. Continuing the centuries-old tradition of its harvest, Sitka Tribe of Alaska employees sorted through a truck load of herring eggs, about 700 pounds, to weigh and distribute to community elders.
That’s in addition to 1,000 pounds distributed last weekend, according to cultural resources coordinator Tammy Young. Herring eggs were harvested later in the year than usual, Young said.
“Usually, the herring spawn before now,” she said. “We’re experiencing so much change in our seasons here for a lot of different reasons. But the herring seem to be pushed further and further from Sitka.”
Still, she says the harvest is a cause for celebration every year.
“We always have some of our elder aunties come, stop by, offer us encouragement and say ‘oh, that looks so good!,” Young said. “We appreciate it when our elders come and check on our progress.”
From left to right, cultural resources coordinator Tammy Young, environmental lab manager Kari Lanphier and fisheries biologist Kyle Rosendale sort through a truckload of herring eggs to weight and distribute to elders. (KCAW photo/Enrique Pérez de la Rosa)
STA cultural resources coordinator Tammy Young poses with “the most beautiful branch” of herring eggs collected early Friday. She said the harvesting and distribution of herring eggs are the best parts of her job. (KCAW photo/Enrique Pérez de la Rosa)
STA employees sorted and weighed a 700 pound truckload of herring eggs on hemlock branches to distribute to Sitka elders. (KCAW photo / Enrique Pérez de la Rosa)Tribal council chair KathyHope Erickson stops by the Kaa Toowú Náagu Hídi to collect some bags of herring eggs. (KCAW photo / Enrique Pérez de la Rosa)
