Alaska News

Dutch Harbor food-and-bait herring fishery finished

Purse seiners have apparently finished the Dutch Harbor food and bait herring fishery. The fishery opened July 15, and the seine quota was taken by three boats working for three processors on July 21, said Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Nathaniel Nichols in Sand Point.

The 317-ton quota reserved for gillnetters was not taken because no gillnetters went fishing, he said. Though he reported some slight interest expressed by gillnet fishers, he doubts the herring fishery will reopen because processors have all the herring they need now.

The three processors were Trident Seafoods in Akutan, Westward Seafoods in Unalaska, and Peter Pan Seafoods in King Cove. A total of three purse seine vessels participated, each fishing for one processor. All three vessels were serviced by a single spotter airplane, which directs the boats to the schools of herring, Nichols said.

One processor was paying a price of about $550 per ton, Nichols said.

Most of the herring was caught near Akutan, near Lava Point on the west side of the island, on the opposite end from the village. A smaller portion was harvested on the north end of Unalaska Island, Nichols said.

The herring fishery is a much more manageable affair than in past years, when over 20 boats might have participated, and taken the whole quota, and considerably more, in a matter of minutes, Nichols observed. Back then, the fishery was "pretty hard to regulate," he said.

In the cooperative system that eliminated the competitive system, one boat fishes for a group of other vessels and shares the profits. The old system was also a spectator sport for Unalaska residents when the fish were near shore. One year the fishery happened just off the S-Curves on Airport Beach Road, and cars lined up along the roadside for the show. In addition to all the boats, several spotter planes would be orbiting overhead at different altitudes, adding to the entertainment.

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The three purse seiners harvested 1,763.8 tons, and a final tally may show a small increase. The pending final total shows the fleet caught almost the whole seine quota of 1,765 tons, Nichols said.

Reprinted with permission from The Bristol Bay Times.

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