The Sitka Sound Sac Roe herring fishery opened on Friday (3-27-26) for the first time this year.
In an announcement from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Friday afternoon (3-27-26), state managers said they opened the fishery to commercial seiners from 12 to 6 p.m. in Crescent Bay.
Two test sets pulled from the area this/Friday morning yielded fish with roe maturity averaging from 10% to 12% with average fish weight averaging from 151 to 177 grams.
State managers have been conducting regular aerial surveys since mid-March. In today’s announcement, they said they saw a typical number of herring predators for this time of year, including humpback whales, grey whales, and sea lions, but did not observe any schools of herring or spawn from the air.
This year, the state set a harvest level at just over 35,000 tons of herring for the commercial fishery. But due to market conditions and low participation, it’s unlikely fishermen will harvest close to that amount. Last year, with a limited fleet and fewer than three harvesters participating, only around 6000 tons were caught of the available 35,000 tons.
The maximum percentage of mature herring that fishermen are able to harvest was reduced from 20% to 15% by the Alaska Board of Fisheries last year. At the time, fish and game staff told the Board of Fish they wanted to reduce the harvest level as an extra precaution, until the state could confirm new Canadian research, which suggested a 20% harvest level may be too high for herring stocks.
The state will release its next fishery update on Saturday.
