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The Highliner

Commercial fishing is a bedrock industry in Alaska, and has been for more than a century. Every year scores of fishermen net millions of migrating salmon, challenge the icy Bering Sea to trap king crabs, lay miles and miles of baited hooks for halibut, and scoop up enough pollock for a zillion fish sticks. And when fishermen aren't out fishing, they're usually talking about fishing. That's what this blog is all about. Cast your net here for commercial fishing news and notes. And if you've got a bone to pick, post a comment.

About me:
I've pounded the commercial fishing beat for the Anchorage Daily News since 1999. I hail originally from Tennessee. I've never fished commercially, but I've spent much time as a journalist aboard boats and inside fish-processing plants. Of course, I'm a big consumer of Alaska seafood. One of my favorites: canned sockeye.

Contact Wesley Loy at wloy@adn.com.

Sitka jackpot – half-million dollars in half-hour

Posted by The Highliner

Posted: March 28, 2008 - 11:14 am

We’re getting reports of phenomenal catches Wednesday in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery.

State management biologists opened the fishery for only half an hour in the early afternoon, but that was enough for about 10 boats working very shallow water along Kruzof Island to score astounding catches.

One boat netted more than 1,000 tons of the silvery little fish, said Dave Gordon of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

“Somebody just made a half-million bucks,” Gordon said.

Sure enough, at the going rate of $550 per ton, that’s $550,000 for half an hour of fishing!

Several other boats netted catches over 500 tons, Gordon said.

The nets were so swollen with herring that fishermen and processors are still pumping them out today, he said.

The previous record for a Sitka herring catch was under 500 tons.

Gordon said he wasn’t at liberty to name any of the lucky fishermen or boats involved.

Sitka is known for its frenzied, combative and often lucrative fishing.

But this day will truly go down as a blockbuster in Alaska commercial fishing lore.

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10 April 6, 2008 - 9:33am | alaq

Poor year for spawning

I hope Dave Gordon and ADF&G are thinking hard about the herring sac-roe fishing limits now. There has only been one spawn area so far this year in Sitka. Last year during this same time, my family went to a bay where there were thousands of herring! The next day it was wiped out...now all the stock is practically wiped out. We went to the same bay yesterday, there was absolutely nothing there. What do we need to do to get the Government's attention? This is a record year...for poor spawning...and rediculous amounts of money the herring were sacrificed for. Who are the people that the Government serves? Not us, thats for sure...its the almighty dollar that they bow down to. How can one person stand against the government? The Southeast Alaska residents need to come together - regardless of clan affiliation, race, gender...and speak out against this autrocity! All the people know that the herring are so few now....but there are natives who worship the almighty dollar too now. These people choose to look the other way and ignore everything that is going on around them. Soon there will be no herring for the ADF&G to rape for dollars. We all will have nothing!

9 March 31, 2008 - 4:34pm | Mberingsea

Shhhhhh!!!

Lets keep this on the down low.....we dont want the at sea processors to come in with their trawl nets like they've done to every single alaskan fishey now do we?

8 March 31, 2008 - 8:24am | sleddogac

The greedy deplete fish

Some blame seals for depeleting fish stocks. But in reality, they are being depleted by greedy Alaska fisherman.

7 March 29, 2008 - 7:57pm | gwenp2

SITKA

WAH... WAH... F WAH.. WHERES EXXON WITH OUR PWS HERRING?wAH wAG wah.....

6 March 29, 2008 - 9:45am | ericsarahjordan

Herring Conservation and sharing

Great to see all the passion expressed about the Sitka herring. It is also great to see the resource rebuilt from when I moved here in 1976 and we were averaging 6-8 miles of spawn a year. Two people can claim a lot of credit for their actions in the late 70's to help conserve the herring. Jim Parker, ADF&G area commercial fisheries biologist, worked hard standing up to the industry and Larry Calvin proposed the first minimum threshold before a fishery could take place. That proposal passed the Sitka Fish & Game Advisory Committee and was adopted by the Alaska Board of Fisheries in 1977. In the spring of 77 the acoustical estimate of the biomass did not reach the minimum threshold, I believe it was 10,000 tons, and the sac roe fishery did not take place. The spring of 77 was one of those wonderful springs in SE when all the little fishes did well and when that year class of herring came in 3-4 years later our miles of spawn jumped dramatically.
In the late 80's and 90's the Sitka Tribe became active in herring conservation with the Board of Fisheries system and proposed raising the minimum threshold to 17,000 tons. The Board set it at 20,000 tons I believe. So, since I moved to Sitka 32 years ago, we are managing our herring much more conservatively, have improved our science, and our biomass has increased 5 to 10 times what it was in 1976.
Nevertheless, several of the writers here make good points. The herring biomass in 1976 was undoubtedly at a depressed level. Herring all over SE were overfished during the summer reduction fisheries in the 50's and 60's. There are documented reports of nearly 100 miles of spawn in the Sitka area historically. So, it is anyones guess whether the 30-50 or so miles a year in recent times is an optimum level or not. It is also of great concern that the herring biomass in Sitka Sound is almost all very old herring. While extremely valuable to the sac-roe fishery these fish are due to start dying of natural causes and without another strong year class or two showing up our relatively healthy stock will decline.
As a fairly objective observer, I am not involved in either the sac-roe fishery or subsistence harvest, who has been involved in herring conservation battles for over 30 years and can remember my father writing to ADF&G about his concerns about the reduction fishery in 1959, I think Dave Gordon and ADF&G have generally done a wonderful job trying to balance the concerns of the tribe and meet the Board of Fisheries mandates regarding the sac-roe harvests. Nevertheless, with an aging herring stock we all need to be precautionary about future harvest levels.

April 5, 2008 - 6:16pm | Kuskdaka

Thanks for the history Eric

Nice to read a bit more about the history Eric. There are accounts by elder Tlingits from - I think the 1940's which discuss the broad scope of herring occurrences in Southeast, both spawning and otherwise.
Years ago, it was suggested that herring research be performed with some of the Exxon Valdez funds to determine how to increase spawning in areas that have died off be it by natural causes or manmade ones.

I think the suggestion fell on deaf ears, which is terribly unfortunate. I think the spreading of the spawning area in Sitka Sound may be the manner in which herring naturally repopulate themselves. It is a shame that there isn't more effort put into allowing the herring spawning population spread out farther.

The last time I looked at Norway, they have yet to do much in restoring their herring populations. What a shame!

5 March 28, 2008 - 10:07pm | sitkan

Dave Gordon

is no different than a homeland terrorist, he should be in prison forever. Shame on you Dave, when the herring are gone, it'll be on your head. The filth of money has taken over and corrupted even Fish & Game. The herring will go the way of the buffalo and like the Indians, they will only be in our stories of how once they were everywhere in the ocean. And thanks to people like Dave Gordon, they will be gone forever. If we ever go through famine, I hope you are the first one to starve to death Dave.

4 March 28, 2008 - 7:56pm | robylittlefield

Millions $ ???

How can Dave Gordon say that somebody made half a million $ in a half hour? That boat couldn't take care of that huge catch for over a day. They're just sitting out there with the fish rotting in the net. I bet they don't get anything for that huge mistake. It should be obvious to everyone that the Fish and Game has screwed up this year, for sure. They should be charged with wanton waste. And why are commercial seiners allowed to hit whales and tangle them in nets when everyone else would get a big fine for doing that?
Shaawát

3 March 28, 2008 - 3:54pm | alaq

If the fisheries were

well managed, then tell me why the herring don't spawn from one end of Baranof Island to the other? This was the case until commercial fishing wiped them out. I have noticed in the ten years that I have been living here, that the spawn isn't from Stargavin to St. John's Bay....and if you are not familiar with the area, from one end of Sitka to the other. The milt could be seen anywhere from the road system, and compared to 10 years ago, its only in one pocket here and there. So tell me that there isn't something wrong. Its happening right before our eyes and the future generation might ask what herring spawn looked like. The smell of herring spawning is gone! I didn't think I'd miss that, but I do! I knew what was in store....and yes, we do work hard. Yes, we do share with friends and relatives. Perfect example of this wonderful fishery is, as you are reading this, a net with 1000 tons of fish is sitting in the water, WASTED! Last year, Dave Gordon was told not to fish in an area where only young juvenile fish were. Did he listen? NO! A boat caught 25 tons and "tried to release them." But, all those fish died from shock. Unless you live here, and unless you see it, of course people are going to believe what they're told by our wonderful government!

2 March 28, 2008 - 3:11pm | peteroddy

Abundant herring

THe Sitka herring fishery is very well managed. Increasing stocks from year to year support this observation. Thus far in 2008 the fish have chosen to spawn on the Kruzof Island shore, so those who hope to drive to the fish and collect their subsistence eggs (to be boxed and flown to "friends and relatives" throughout the lower 48 and Alaska) might be forced to get in a boat and exert themselves.

Get a life. Alaska's fishery managemant is the best in the world, science based and rational. If a subsitence user of herring eggs can't get them this year he's not very smart or is lazy.

April 1, 2008 - 9:01pm | sitkan

I can tell your an idiot. I gatherd eggs for over a decade. The spawn is no longer from stargaven to whale park. I can tell your white and stupid.

March 29, 2008 - 3:13pm | Kuskdaka

Sitka's harvest seems well managed - what about Lynn Canal?

Not all of Alaska's fisheries have been managed well - just look at Lynn Canal.

We can do much better. ADF&G's management of Lynn Canal was a failure! Why can't the ADF&G wizboy's do something to get that stock out of the toilet?

Historic spawning areas extended much farther than present day ones. Let the spawning area of Sitka spread out, but don't permit commercial fisheries on spawn outside of a certain radius of Sitka until our region once again has an abundance of herring throughout the areas in which herring had traditionally spawned.

The Tlingit's had oral accounts of where they spawned. No doubt they have been recorded. Commence work to put together a restoration plan to encompass these areas. The history of Southeast had numerous herring reduction facilities; there was once an tremendous abundance of herring throughout Southeast. Let's see some work to restore known spawning areas.

March 28, 2008 - 4:17pm | royselectric

at least ours won't be banana boats

Most of us use boats now because the way we were taught to set herring branches at low tide on local beaches makes them vulnerable to theft, something that never happened in pre-sac roe times but now occurs every year. Now we need to make our sets without buoys in deeper water and hope there is something left to grapple up later as theft continues mostly from those too lazy to set their own branches. The locals are ready and will actively seek out the spawning areas wherever they are. To suggest that we are lazy or not ready seems racist and is offensive to me. I or someone in my family will be out every day looking for eggs until the spawn stops or we've taken all we need. Customary trade, sharing and barter has existed with our friends and relatives in Alaska, the US, and Canada since before there was a US. It continues to this day as a protected customary and traditional activity and is an important part of our need. This is one of the last places that still gets herring spawn in Southeast. The other areas have been scientifically and rationally fished out.
Additionally the sac roe fishery is almost always conducted in very close proxinity to town which has severely limited the subsistence take near town resulting in the amount necessary for subsistence (State term, ANS) to not be met for 2 of the last 3 years.
The people of Sitka are merely asking that they be allowed to harvest herring roe using customary and traditional methods in their customary places. Subsistence has the priority in both state and federal law but in this fishery if it is "reasonable" in the ADF&G's mind that a subsistence user can travel 20 or even 40 miles to get their eggs then the subsistence priority was met.
We used to harvest all our eggs near town in the area of the harbor but we'll go wherever the herring are spawning but we don't think it is "reasonable" to require small boats to travel long distances with heavy loads.
Best science, rational? I think not. The existing and outdated sac roe fishery management plan is based on an old model that does not account for the very large percentage of older fish classes and the much smaller recruitment of the 3 and 4 year olds in this year's biomass.
The local biologists could not adjust the take even if they had conservation concerns because it is mandated by the BOF to take all the quota. That's not science based or rational, its political.
Given the unusual makeup of this years fish, science based, rational analysis would have seemed to have suggested that the local biologist proceed carefully with this year's catch and in fact to lower the quota to err on the side of conservation.
FYI, The existing biomass of herring is but a mere fraction of historical accounts of biomass pre-contact, pre-fed and pre-alaska managed.
If you start with an artificially low baseline, its easy to claim sucess but the present herring biomass is no where near what it used to be.

1 March 28, 2008 - 1:15pm | alaq

What happens

when all the herring are gone? The government isn't listening to what the subsistence harversters are saying. The depletion of herring and the herring eggs are evident every year. Last year most sets were very poor and its been on a decline for years. NO matter what the people are saying in Sitka, their voices aren't heard because the government doesn't profit from subsistence harvests. When are we going to say enough is enough?!? Spend all that money wisely boys, because in the next few years, herring might be wiped out here in Sitka.

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Sitka jackpot – half-million dollars in half-hour