News from Sitka, April 14, 2008

We didn't get much herring eggs on branches this year. More than half of the branches we set were missing before the spawn was over. There seemed to be a lot of out of town boats that came here after the spawn started and left with a full deck, even before Sitka people could bring their eggs in. Our own chest freezer is 1/4 full with herring eggs. We usually have a full freezer by now, which would have lasted us through the year.
Sharing herring eggs is not a business for us. It is a way for us to thank others for helping us and a way to trade for other traditional foods from other areas. Shipping costs start at about $60 for a #50 box. Only once in a while do people have enough money to try to help us out with the freight, but there is even more cost involved in the harvest. We take off time from regular work for a week and the boat gas costs hundreds of dollars and we have to buy special equipment like rakes, clippers, rope, chainsaws, plastic totes and grappling hooks. We clean, cut and pack the eggs in ziplock bags to freeze so we can share with Elders and at community events through the year. I do believe that young people who can still physically do the work should help with the harvest or pay a share of the expense for gathering the eggs. You wouldn't expect an artist, weaver or carpenter to work for you for free. It is called respect. I was just hoping that the eggs that we gave away to Elders to say thank you are not being sold for personal profit because we paid a lot to gather and send them out to friends and family and WE certainly didn't make any money.
Maybe this is moot. We may not be able to share or trade for a while, anyway. The herring stocks are being mismanaged and everyone will probably be limited in harvesting for the next few years because of this years outragious overharvest by commercial boats. Thanks for listening. I don't mean to offend anyone but I don't know any other way to let people know about our problems. Roby Littlefield, Sitka

News from Sitka, April 10, 2008

No new spawn has been identified in the Sitka Sound today.

This is the first time in local memory that there has been no herring spawn along any of Halibut Point Road.

We are losing our herring the same way as Ketchikan and Juneau. How/Why is this happening to us? Roby Littlefield, Sitka

News from Sitka, April 4, 2008

Yesterday I found out that this particular boat was not the biggest set. The bigger one was this much and half again more. That largest set had 3.7 million pounds of herring in its net and it took almost 4 full days to process. Roby Littlefield, Sitka

Sitka fishermen strike herring mother lode

Anchorage Daily News
In two hauls, boats catch more than 10,000 tons
By ELIZABETH BLUEMINKebluemink@adn.com
Published: March 29th, 2008 12:49 AMLast Modified: March 29th, 2008 05:58 AM

"The huge hauls were mainly due to the unique spot the herring chose to spawn, said Treinen, who has been involved in the Sitka herring fishery for about a dozen years.

Very dense schools of herring appeared in very shallow water next to Kruzof Island right before the fishery opened at 2:25 p.m., he said. Some of the crowded fish seemed to be dying -- they turned belly up in the water before the fishery opened, he said.

Because the fish were in shallow water, about three fathoms deep, they couldn't dive to try to escape the nets. "We could contain bigger sets than we've ever been able to contain before," Treinen said.

The state Department of Fish and Game wouldn't have allowed two fishery openings if managers realized how many fish were getting caught, according to Eric Coonradt, the department's assistant area manager for commercial fisheries in Sitka.

As it turns out, the concern wasn't about violating harvest levels. The main concern was the ability of processors to handle so much fresh herring, Coonradt said."

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Welcome

Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) is a foundation and bellwether species for North Pacific marine ecosystems. Herring roe fisheries are among the most lucrative, competitive, and controversial in the region, often pitting commercial and subsistence users against one another. One reason for this is that productive spawning areas (and times) are limited and historical population dynamics and ecology of herring are not well understood. Yet many communities with local and traditional knowledge (LTK) of herring fisheries claim that historical stocks were larger and spawning areas more numerous, but that they have dwindled due to factors such as over-harvesting, predation, disease, development, and climate change. While shifts in stocks and spawning areas have been reasonably well documented since 1980, no synthesis of the deeper archaeological, historical, and ethno-ecological records on herring spawning areas and their relation to local ecosystems has been carried out.
Our goal is to synthesize this information for the region encompassing Southeast Alaska from Dixon Entrance to Yakutat Bay, where herring and herring roe traditionally have been harvested in quantity. Using existing published and unpublished archaeological, ethnological, historical and biological records as well as community focus groups in each historical herring stock region, we propose to compile a historical and spatial database using geographic information systems (GIS) to:
1) identify the extent of historic and prehistoric herring spawning and massing areas;
2) link changes in herring spawn extent and intensity to environmental and human factors in the socio-ecological system; and
3) identify sensitive areas for protection and potential restoration of herring spawning.

We welcome your comments!

"ENDANGERED HERRING"?Why Now, And Why Only Lynn Canal?

SitNews
Ketchikan, Alaska
October 01, 2007

Viewpoints
By Andy Rauwolf, John Harrington, Snapper Carson

"We find it quite interesting that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has recently considered listing the Lynn Canal herring stocks as either threatened or endangered. NMFS has maintained a laboratory in Juneau for about 3/4 of a century and has conducted extensive research on the once huge Lynn Canal herring stock as well as many other herring populations throughout S.E. Alaska. In 1982, after 5 years of intense herring sac roe fishing, then Governor Sheffield was persuaded to override an order by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) for an emergency closure of the Lynn Canal herring fishery and open the fishery. This last thrust depleted the herring stocks to a level which could no longer sustain the population of whales, sea lions, and salmon that had thrived on it, causing its collapse..."

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An expose on the history and controversy surrounding commercial herring management in Southeast Alaskan fisheries (excluding Sitka Sound)

SitNews
Ketchikan, Alaska
January 17, 2007

A Public Point of View
By Andy RauwolfKetchikan Area Herring Action Group

"Herring have been considered by scientists as the "backbone of the ocean vertebrae food chain," and the "ice cream of the ocean". These rich, oily fish provide essential nutrition to virtually every predator fish, as well as marine mammals, from seals and stellar sea lions, to humpback, mink, and blue whales, along with a host of sea birds. What would happen if we lost this resource? Although there is no conclusive "scientific" link, 20 years after the herring stocks collapsed on the Grand Banks, the Cod fishery ended, putting 30,000 fishermen out of work. Although this question is hypothetical, in light of events currently happening up and down the Pacific Coast, it must now be asked..."

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