The Sitka Sound Sac Roe herring fishery went on two-hour notice Wednesday (3-20-24) morning. At a meeting the night before, Alaska Department of Fish and Game managers reviewed their plans for the fishery this year and discussed last year’s fishery and the results of spawn deposition surveys that they use to help determine the population size. 

For the last couple of years, the state has forecasted a large biomass of herring in Sitka Sound, of which approximately 20-percent is available for commercial harvest. But reduced market demand has meant fewer fishermen and processors participating, stretching out the fishery over a couple of weeks.

“Last year, it took a lot of effort and some unusual opening strategies, like the time that we had Deep Inlet and Salisbury Sound open simultaneously. But we did have a few successful openings,” said fishery management biologist Aaron Dupuis. “We did about as good as we could with the situation that we had last year.” 

Dupuis said the fishery would be similar to last year’s with a reduced fleet size and limited processing capacity compared to previous competitive fisheries. He expected to see 1,000 to 2,500 tons harvested per day, barely scratching the surface of this season’s record 80,000 ton guideline harvest level. 

“Based on conversations I’ve had with processors, [I] expect we’ll probably end up harvesting about an eighth of that if everything goes well for the commercial harvest, so around 10,000 tons give or take a few depending on how things go,” Dupuis said. “So yeah, definitely don’t anticipate harvesting 80,000 tons.” 

While the meeting was mostly a presentation, there was time for questions from the public. Traditional subsistence harvester Paulette Moreno asked how the department was folding traditional Lingít knowledge into the model to forecast the herring biomass. State biometrician Sherri Dressel shared one example: the department has been trying to compare data from traditional harvesters about herring egg deposition. 

“I’ve asked [traditional harvesters] about the indexes that we’re using, so in other words, is the index that we use for eggs, does it match up with what you’re seeing?” Dressel said. “Our estimates of eggs have gone up this year, has that matched or has it not matched?”

Dressel said she learned that subsistence harvesters have been observing shorter spawning durations, and her department has tried to figure out ways to incorporate that information into the model. But as far as the actual numbers go, it isn’t folded into the math. 

Moreno was worried that the quality of the eggs on branches has continued to diminish. She urged the department to incorporate more traditional knowledge into their model. 

“I would like to encourage that as these things are set forward, that there is more traditional knowledge in these reports, [and a] little bit more of an effort made and consideration when these numbers are done,” she said. “Because I know a lot of the harvesters are out on the water, and I do know that it takes an awful lot more for us to get the herring eggs that we so prize for our families and that we’ve done for 10s of 1000s of years.” 

In past years, Moreno and other traditional subsistence harvesters have called for a moratorium on the commercial harvest of herring.

The Sitka Sound Sac Roe herring fishery remained on two hour notice on Wednesday (3-20-24). It opened for the first time in 2024 on Friday afternoon.