It's all over

Another long commercial halibut season closes at midnight tonight.

All done at Sitka

The Sitka Sound herring sac roe fishery has closed for the season with a strong harvest exceeding 25,000 tons.

Hauling in the hooks

The halibut season closed at noon today.

Sitka bust

The Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery has come to a close with only a small harvest for the season.

Here's a news release explaining the closure.

It's all over at Sitka

The Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery has closed for the season.

The fish didn't much cooperate this year, and the harvest of about 10,000 tons fell well short of the preseason target of 14,741 tons.

Deckboss hasn't heard a thing regarding prices to fishermen. Have you?

Togiak herring fishery wraps up

The Togiak sac roe herring fishery will close for the season at noon today.

The purse seine fleet was expected to reach its full quota, while the gillnet fleet quit fishing on Saturday, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said.

It's all over at Sitka

Radio station KCAW reports the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery closed today as the fleet, working politely this year as a cooperative, reached the full quota.

It's all over at Togiak

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game today closed the Togiak herring fishery for the season.

The catch totaled 25,136 tons, or better than 90 percent of the preseason quota of 27,890 tons.

Sitka herring season closes as full quota taken

The Sitka Sound seine fleet saw a fourth and final herring opener Saturday, taking an estimated 3,935 tons.

That brings the total to 17,231 tons. The "guideline" harvest limit going into the season was 16,333 tons.

The season is now closed, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced today.

As for prices paid to fishermen, Deckboss has no definitive numbers at this point.

The full value of the catch generally isn't established until after processors market the product.

The size of the Sitka catch isn't the only price factor. It also matters what other Pacific herring fisheries produce. These fisheries stretch from California to remote Western Alaska, with some occurring before Sitka and some after.

Sitka herring are valued primarily for their eggs, or roe. The pack goes almost entirely to Asia.

The notoriously combative Sitka fishery apparently proceeded without incident this season. Either that, or news of any trouble simply hasn't reached us yet.

It's all over at Togiak

After a number of extensions, the Togiak sac roe herring fishery finally closed for the season at noon today.

The total harvest was 28,808 tons.

That's big. Over the preceding two decades, only the 1994 harvest was bigger at 30,315 tons, state records show.

It's over

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has closed the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery for the season.

The harvest tallied less than half the preseason quota of 11,549 tons.

More details in this announcement. Sounds like the fish just weren't cooperating.

So, can we officially call this fishery a bust? Deckboss isn't ready to say that until we know more about the price processors paid for the herring.

That's a wrap for halibut

The halibut fishery closed at noon Sunday after an eight-month season.

As usual, fishermen holding individual fishing quota left very few halibut in the water. According to National Marine Fisheries Service figures posted today, IFQ fishermen took 42,075,201 pounds or 97 of the quota.

Going into the season, halibut producers worried about the effects of the global recession on demand for what has become quite a pricey fish.

Based on all the anecdotal evidence I've seen and heard, prices did fall off a bit this year, but not as badly as we might have expected.

I'll try to get better data to see what really happened.

Togiak herring fishery winds down

The big herring sac roe fishery at Togiak is nearly done.

Fishery managers have shut down the seine fleet, and the gillnetters will finish by the end of the month.

It's evident a lot of fish will be left in the water unharvested.

Here's a state press release, fresh out this afternoon:

Alaska Department of Fish and Game

May 27, 2009

Announcement: The Purse Seine Fishery Closes

This is the Alaska Department of Fish & Game in Togiak with an announcement regarding the Togiak herring fishery.

Due to small fish size, decreasing roe percentages, and increased numbers of released sets, continued purse seine fishing is no longer warranted. The 2009 Togiak sac roe purse seine fishery will remain closed for the duration of the season. The final harvest was 12,404 tons approximately 83% of the quota.

The gillnet fishery will remain open until the quota is harvested or until 11:59 p.m. May 31. The gillnet harvest yesterday was 292 tons for a cumulative of 3,803 tons, approximately 60% of the quota.

Department staff will relocate to Dillingham this afternoon and be available for gillnet catch reports by phone at 842-5227 or trac phone at 1102.

Any seiner needing to clean their net is welcome to do so.

Processors, we would like to have final operations reports and fish tickets to our Dillingham office within 10 days of the last gillnet delivery.

Lastly we would like to thank everyone for all the help with samples and updates. Have a safe journey home and a good summer.

This has been the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Togiak.