SITKA — Fish and Game closed the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery Monday, with more than 4,600 tons left to catch in the quota.
In a broadcast on Channel 10 at 4 p.m., Area Management Biologist Dave Gordon said the large number of smaller fish has brought challenges to the value of the harvest. He said he has been talking to processors about the best course of action to take at this time, after days of looking for marketable fish.
“It’s been a challenging season, for sure,” he said. “At this time the consensus was to leave the fish in the water and not to harvest the rest of the GHL.”
Test sampling continued today in Salisbury Sound as biologists looked for another chance to fish for the remaining 4,600 tons in this quota for the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery.
So far there have been four openings – March 17, March 19 and two on March 23 – which yielded a total of 10,050 tons toward the guideline harvest level of 14,741 tons.
No new active spawning was observed as of noon today, Alaska Fish and Game said.
The Fish and Game research vessel Kestrel surveyed northern sections of the Sitka Sound herring management area on Saturday and found a concentration of herring in lower Salisbury Sound and St. John Baptist Bay. No concentration of pre-spawning herring was seen in northern Sitka Sound, and fewer herring predators were noted in the traditional spawning areas near Sitka.
Also on Saturday, an aerial survey found a total of 16.1 nautical mile of spawn. Most of this spawn was seen in Eastern Bay, Promisla Bay and the Magoun Islands, with spawn continuing in spots on south Middle Island, Kasiana Island and on the Halibut Point Road shoreline. The total cumulative spawn to date is 42.0 nautical miles.
Area Management Biologist Dave Gordon said smaller groups of sea lions were seen among the smaller islands south of Middle Island with a concentration of sea lions still present at Inner Point.
On Saturday, three test samples were taken from the Salisbury Sound area resulting in mature roe ranging from 8.6 percent to 9.6 percent, immature roe ranging from 1.4 percent to 1.8 percent, and average weights from 96 grams to 99 grams.
No further openings have been called since the last openings Wednesday.
