Sitka herring seiners have taken less than half the 11,549-ton quota.
Now these normally fierce competitors are switching to a cooperative fishery in hopes of salvaging what Deckboss imagines has been a frustrating season.
Full details in this update from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
bummer dude
ReplyDeleteIs ADFG managing this fishery for last two years to intentionally catch only half the quota? It almost appears that the people managing the fishery disagree with the quota amount and this is their way of reducing it.
ReplyDeleteTo little for to many boats I guess. Better have a buy back. The cure all for greed. Or is it?tswedes
ReplyDeleteMake it super exclusive area
ReplyDeleteNow they are going to wrap up set after set, STRAINING thru herring schools just to pump out the few remaining spawners. The fishery involves eggs for japan, money for fifty boats, and a middle finger to every person who opposes it. Plus threatens and entire system that depends on it for sustainability. It is about time to shut this stupidity down. These idiots will kill the last fish. They talk conservation but they don't mean it or they would have not fished the massive quotas recently for pennies. Idiots, complete idiots. NOW How's it feel to be a highliner of a collapsing fishery?
ReplyDeleteMore seafood/jobs reallocated to marine mammals (whales).
ReplyDeleteKodiak and homer boys they don't care what the price is they just want to kill fish need to make it if you fish sitka you don't fish any where else that would change the game
ReplyDeletemaybe that deep biomass of hake will move in from sitka sound and prove how wrong the the state fish and game management models are.if adfg have been using hake on the sonar or sounder screen to base there guideline harvest levels for years?then the herring in sitka are might be in a lot worse condition then anyone knows!
ReplyDeleteYup
ReplyDeleteSure
And the hake have been making 76 miles of herring spawn
Maybe those tens of millions of pink salmon in Se and the millions of sockeyes in the bay are just dolly varden
Gee whiz
Where do you get these guys wes
Maybe we've been bamboozled by adf&g too long.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the Herring decided not to come back in hoards this year.
Maybe the little salmon are eating more than their share of this forage fish.
Maybe we're allowing management to manage our resources to rock bottom.
Maybe we have lots of arm chair scientist commenting on the sitka herrring fishery they know nothing about.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you just oppose fishing period and would like someone to listen to you.
Maybe, maybe, maybe you should STFU
You do not have to know a lot about the fishery to realize that neither does the Dept know much about it. How many failures will it take to understand that this is a resource that is in increasingly more and more vulnerable. The harvest benefits a very few and at what cost? Is it not time to take a far more conservative approach to avoid any risk, any, of losing the Sitka herring as has occurred with so many other populations? What will it take to get the Dept. to start considering how important herring are to the rest of the environment? So, 7:14, maybe it's time for you to consider other outcomes, instead of belittling others.
ReplyDeleteI thought 714's comment was funny, I dont see that as belittling others. It's quite commical to read peoples posts that think they're fishery scientists and they know more than the department. Those 50 guys with permits have millions invested in the sac roe fishery, lets look at the "benefits a few" comment. Sitka is busy with activity, law men, fisherman, crew,tenders & crew, uscg all these people are spending money everyday they are there for the last month. The fish get caught and processed in Sitka, Petersburg, Wrangell, Juneau, and Ketchikan all the hourly processor workers get paid to freeze the herring, not only that but the fish tax generated to those communities is substantial to a municipality budget. Shipping companies benefit hugely from this high volume fishery, during the month of March and April not a whole lot of volume sails south on the barge this time of year. This fishery benefits more than just a few as you claim.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's a wrap folks Sac Roe 2013 is over.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the 53 million NSE pink salmon will take the same detour...rut roe!
8:20. Your are correct. There are more than just the 50 permit holders that benefit. i agree that the value added product comes from the others you mention. But it is a very short term fishery and the benefits do not take place over more than a couple of weeks or so. And almost all of the product goes to Asian markets which does little to help the U.S. A ton of herring X-vessel may not be worth more than one average size halibut or a nice Chinook X vessel. Who is to say what the ton of herring is worth to the rest of the eco system. I am pretty sure you are probably connected to the fishery in one way or another. and i can understand where you are coming from. But aren't you a little bit worried about the trend that seems to be occurring with the numbers? Does it not bother you that in just three/four years the harvests have fallen off in such a dramatic fashion. It should be very disturbing, especially to those who have made the big investments in permits and vessels. Where are the fish? There used to be many many more miles of spawn. Not any more!
ReplyDeleteToo bad for Bill Davidson who is one of the managers of the herring fishery and who retires this year. He is a good guy, but this is a failure of management and a sign of bad things to come. And instead of just admitting that they over estimated the amount of herring and set the GHL too high, Davidson blames it on the very small area that was closed to the commercial harvest to help the subsistence users. What a lame excuse! BOF former member Brown saw it coming and predicted what is now occurring. The fishery now appears over as the co-op only harvested around 250 ton among all the spawning. And who knows how much quality was there as it is not published. The Dept. was embarrassed big time last year with many complaints. Now they really look bad, real bad. Leaving the Dept. in charge of management of this fishery is like leaving the fox in charge of the chicken house. Soon there will be no chickens or herring. Anyone for buying a SE herring permit for a song. Some of those big herring seiners will probably make good charter boats. Only there will be very few chinooks or halibut to be caught by them. Oh, I forgot. there are always the hatchery fish.
ReplyDeleteBullsh*t Predictions and Punxsutawney Prognostications! Go back under your log!
ReplyDeleteHey 7:14...there are fishery biologists on here who are legit and not armchair or wheelhouse "biologists."
ReplyDeleteDuh get a clue man!
See that's why we tried to get the GHL lowered at BOF in 2008. A 10% cap on the GHL would have brought the quota to 7,400 tons this year...closer to what was actually caught. Get rid of the 20% GHL!
ReplyDeleteHey 7:14...there are fishery biologists on here who are legit and not armchair or wheelhouse "biologists."
ReplyDeleteDuh get a clue man!
So what you're saying is the legit scientist use this forum to berate the department they work for. All while keeping quiet at work with their heads down not bucking the tide? Some of us would refer to those types as cowards. Nut up & fight for what you believe in, within the department if thats where you work. Furthermore if you happen to work for the State & Feds and are posting here during work hours you shouldn't have a job because you are wasting my tax dollars.
@ 11:25
ReplyDeletewell I'm not 8:20 but I feel a need to respond to that pile of nonsense:
Yes it's a short fishery but all of these boats and processors are involved in other fisheries the rest of the year. So... what's your point?
Exports have no value to the U.S.? Should we just keep importing all of our goods from Asia and not sell them anything? dang I forgot its called trade.
Are you the one to say what a ton of herring is worth to the rest of the ecosystem? How about a ton of king salmon or halibut? I sure as hell don't know. But I know we are getting a better idea of how many we can harvest sustainably. Is that not enough anymore? maybe we could come up with some kind of monetary value that each lb of fish is worth to the ocean and then make withdrawals and deposits but balance the check book maybe by leaving a ton of herring we could withdraw a ton of salmon but only if we took a loan against the whales... Jesus that's just a bunch of nonsense I seem to have forgot what we were talking about.
Back on topic do you see a trend in the harvest numbers? Believe me every fishermen in that fishery is thinking along a longer time frame then the last 3-4 years maybe you should try then report back about trends.
It also seems this year there was "miles and miles of spawn" maybe you aren't looking in the right place? I am quite sure judging fish populations by total harvest is not a reliable technique especially in this fishery. Maybe you should educate yourself on how it is managed, why the quota wasn't caught this year, and how to control the amount of crap you are spewing on to the internet.
-I'm in no way invested in the herring fishery
The fishery probably could have been opened a day sooner, but that is a subjective call and an OK call as long as fleet and processors agreed (it is not the job of the Department to unilaterally decide how to manage the fishery for maximum value). But, the closed day after the first two openings and for that matter closed hours on any given day after the first opening was out of order.....IF, any processor(s) had capacity to take fish, the fishery should have been opened. There was plenty of good fish for the taking. It is not the Departments mission to be allocative. I think as we compare notes, we will see that seiners could have caught more and some processors handled more if given more fishing time early and during the third day closure. That said, the quota would probably still not have been taken, but there was an opprotunity to get more value from the fishery and it was missed.
ReplyDeletethe luxury fishery, with million dollars boats, and heavy hitter fishermen all took a hit last year and now a bigger one this year. it was predictable, three years ago they took a record amount of herring by threefold and did it with no price posted. this result is nothing to be surprised about. heard some are gonna go broke now, well if the salmon don't show up and the price plummets, alot of them seiners are gonna go broke.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the matter with $8 million for 48 boats, 2012?
ReplyDeleteWhat was the price this year?
ReplyDeleteDude, no one ever went broke in a super exclusive fishery.
ReplyDeleteS.E. Salmon Seine, 233 boats for $65 Million?
Broke?
12:40
ReplyDeleteThere R no Herring Biologists @ Fish and Game.
Buck up or go home Greenhorn!
1125 is Eric jordan
ReplyDeleteWith only half of last years massive quota being caught and now again only half the quota caught, there are some major forces at play in this fishery. Call it what you want, bad science, mismanagement/improper modeling, stock declines or a combination of all, but the bottom line in todays real world has to be the health of the resource. 2 bumps change the game for everyone and a third next year is a collapse. Nothing lasts forever. Reminds me of the Puget Sound Roe herring fishery that collapsed back in the early 80's that's no more because of a combo of all of the same mentioned above. Hard to let em swim for $2000 a ton.
ReplyDeleteNonsense
ReplyDeleteAdds a twist
To narrow
Minded minds
When all you could
See is greenbacks
It's hard to see
Reality
Nonsense helps
Put prospective in place
To help the Herring