Sitka's herring bust

It's now apparent we'll see no sac roe herring harvest this season in Sitka Sound.

The fishery has experienced a zero harvest only once before, in 1977.

So, what happened?

"It's not a biomass issue," Aaron Dupuis, a state fishery biologist, tells Deckboss.

Test boats caught many tons of herring, and fishable numbers of herring seemed everywhere, Dupuis said.

The problem was marketability — the fish just weren't large enough on average to interest processors, he said.

And so, the herring are now deep into their spawn, and the fishery won't open this season. A disappointing outcome for a fishery with a legacy of fierce competition and fast fortunes.