Sitka Sound herring fishery opening has brought the catch to a little over half the 14,500-ton catch quota. There are all together 50 permit holders in the Sound. Eric Coonradt, assistant fishery manager at the Fish and Game office at Sitka, informed that herring are valued for their roe, which goes primarily to Japan. Roe counts, which are a percentage of body weight, averaged 13 percent to 14 percent from the first Sitka fishery, and 10.5 percent in Tuesday’s opener.
According to Coonradt such a huge hauls is expected like last year, when a few boats each took sets topping 1,000 tons in shallow waters. He added that they had an area open at an extended shelf with a soft, sandy bottom and it allowed fishermen to trap the fish against the bottom in shallow water. More roe herring fisheries will kick off when the fish arrive in other parts of Southeast, at Kodiak, Bristol Bay and all they way up the coast to Norton Sound.
It is said that farmed fish are grown in closed pens or cages until they’re ready for market, Alaska fish (mostly salmon) are grown in hatcheries until they are released as fingerlings to the sea. When the fish return to the “ranch,” they make up a huge part of Alaska’s total salmon harvest. Most of the fish are raised at 36 fish hatcheries, primarily owned by nonprofits with a few owned by the state or the feds.
