United States: Togiak wraps up herring season with good fishing, no hope for good prices

Published 2021년 5월 27일

Tridge summary

The spring herring harvest in Togiak was average with some unexpected developments, including the fish spawning earlier and a mixed age class. This made targeting larger fish challenging, leading to a shift to smaller gear and the migration of the fish offshore. Despite these challenges, state managers confirm a healthy herring population. The total allowable harvest for the season was 47,300 tons, with two processors purchasing the herring. The roe market for herring has declined, and while it is still targeted for roe, bait, or food, it does not generate significant profit. However, it provides a way for subsistence fishing and to maintain the gillnet quota in Togiak.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

The herring harvest this spring was about average for Gillnetter Frank Woods. But the season came with a few surprises:, “The fish came in ripe, and were spawning as they came in,” he said. “And the age-class composition was mixed before they even hit the shore.”, Some fish usually spawn as they enter the district, but Woods said normally, many spawn only after they reach warmer waters closer to shore., Seiners reported that mixed age classes made targeting bigger fish difficult. Woods started fishing about a week after the opener, and by then, the fish were smaller., “We started out with three-inch gear, which was trying to target the 350 or 300 gram fish,” he said. “We got a bunch, but after the fifth or sixth day it was pretty much over — all the fish had moved offshore.”, When the purse seine fleet stopped fishing in mid-May, state managers expanded the fishing area for the gillnet fleet, which didn’t stay out much longer., “The gillnet fleet subsequently quit fishing, and so ...

Source: AlaskaFish Radio