Sitka, Alaska (KINY) – Saturday, March 30th’s aerial survey covered Sitka Sound from Dorothy Narrows to Krestof Sound and St. Lazaria Island. No herring schools were visible from the air today.
Approximately 15.1 nautical miles (nmi) of herring spawn was observed scattered in Starrigavan Bay, along the causeway, and on Japonski, Chaichei, Siginaka, Magoun, Error, and Middle Islands, in Sandy Cove, along the Kruzof Island shoreline from Lava Island to Mountain Point, in Hayward Strait, Kresta Point, Promisla Bay, and in Redoubt Bay (Figure 1).
Since March 23, a cumulative total of 45 nmi of herring spawn has been recorded in Sitka Sound. Few herring predators were seen Saturday.
Department and industry vessels surveyed Sitka Sound from Indian River to Samsing Cove, from Eastern Bay to Krestof Sound, and from Starrigavan Bay to Olga Strait. Scattered schools of herring were located throughout the surveyed area.
Many of the schools of herring were located in very shallow water along the surveyed shorelines.
No test sets were conducted today.
Two openings of the Sitka Sound herring sac roe fishery occurred today as stated in field announcements on VHF channel
The two open areas for this fishery included the area around Deep Inlet and from Indian River to Silver Bay (Figure 2).
The area of Deep Inlet, Samsing Cove, Aleutkina Bay and contiguous waters south of 57°00.81′ N lat and east of 135°21.93′ W long was opened from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
The area from Indian River to Silver Bay south of 57°02.88′ N lat, north of 57°01.57′ N lat, west of 135°11.89′ W long and east of 135°20.20′ W long was opened from 10:00 a.m. to 12:10 a.m.
The emergency orders corresponding with Saturday’s opening are EO 1H1024 and EO 1H1124. No harvest estimates from Saturday’s fishery are available at this time but will be included in the next fishery update.
Approximately 1,310 tons of herring were harvested in the fishery that occurred on March 29.
Since March 22, an estimated 9,905 tons of herring have been harvested.
The department has determined that the openings described above would not harm a reasonable opportunity for participants in the subsistence fishery to harvest the amount of roe necessary for subsistence uses.
When making this determination, the department considered: 1) vessel surveys conducted by the department beginning on March 20 indicated that there is a very large biomass of herring distributed throughout Sitka Sound; 2) since March 23 there has been a cumulative total of 23.7 nmi of herring spawn recorded within regulatory closed waters; 3) while subsistence branch sets were observed within the open area, those branch sets were not located within active spawn.
The next aerial survey and fishery update are scheduled for Sunday, March 31.
All aerial herring survey data can be reviewed online, including spawn lines and photos, in an interactive map application.
