What Abundance Was

Herring Protectors

2020 marked a welcome renewal in Sitka Sound for herring, after several very challenging years for subsistence harvesters.

This renewal is due to a number of things, but most notably a very strong age class of herring and three years without substantial fishing pressure in Sitka Sound for the first time in a century.

From the broken perspective of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Sitka Sound is at all-time record abundance at **triple** ADFG's standard of "pristine biomass". Because of this tragically drifting misunderstanding of historic abundance, ADFG and the Board of Fisheries have seen no reason to reduce the imposition of this wasteful, biomass stunting sac roe seine fishery on Sitka Sound.

Their absurd "pristine" biomass standard is a telling signal of the gross naivete of ADFG's assumptions. People remember more and remember it feeling more secure because that's how it was. To say otherwise is preposterous and cruel.

Below are a few examples from of the many hundreds of historic newspaper accounts of past abundance from Southeast Alaska. As you read, you can listen to past testimony from Herring Hearings over the years using the following link.

Here are a few examples of the many hundreds of historic newspaper accounts of past abundance from Southeast Alaska.

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1

December, 1885

"Their works are running day and night. The output of oil reaches their most sanguine expectations"

2

Killisnoo, 1889

"At this place the fish are so plentiful that they can be scooped up."

3

January, 1888

"...the herring grounds, which are here coextensive with the whole of Sitka Bay..."

4

Sitka, 1911

"The native people dried herring eggs enough to keep themselves supplied with the delectable food for a long time..."

5

Sitka,1921

6

Sitka, 1919

"Solid herring all the way, just a mass of them"

Testimony from 1955 FWS hearings by C.J Mills of Port Alexander

7

Skagway, 1900

"The bay was literally black along the end of Moore's wharf Sunday with schools of the swarming herring"

8

West Behm Canal, 1912

"This makes close to five thousand tons of salt herring which have been shipped from the Behm canal herring grounds this season... that much herring would fill eight freight trains of 39 cars each... all of it of the heretofore unused little herring, taken within 60 miles of Ketchikan"

9

Petersburg, Alaska,1921

A herring operator in Petersburg was sure it would be infinite forever and wrote this letter saying so.

"The possibility, however, in the herring industry in the Territory are unlimited."

10

Kake, Alaska, 1921

11

Dutch Harbor, 1928

"The whole face of the sea rippled with them just as though a net were being hauled to the diamonds."

ADFG data disagrees with historical, cultural, and ecological memory.

It is time that ADFG check their assumptions.

This is not abundance.

Further reading:

Herring

Herring Synthesis by Tom Thornton, Madonna Moss, Fritz Funk, et al.

The findings of this study illustrate the potential for LTK, in combination with archaeological, historical, and biological data, to contribute to a broader understanding of herring ecology, especially given the shallow time depth and gaps in scientific studies of the species. By linking cultural, historical and spatial models of herring ecology, it is hoped that a more robust picture of the role herring in the regional socioecological system will emerge, leading to better management and sustainable yields for both human and non-human species that rely on this foundation and cultural keystone species.

Explore the report at https://uas.alaska.edu/research/herringsynthesis/