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Togiak herring 2016 forecast released

Kai Raymond

Preseason estimate of 162,244 tons would be at the upper end of 10 year average, and leave nearly 29,000 tons available for the sac roe fishery.

The Department of Fish and Game released the forecast for the 2016 Togiak herring fishery. KDLG’s Dave Bendinger has more on what is expected to be another big year:

Audio transcript:

The Department is predicting a spawning biomass of 162,244 tons. That’s just slightly below the 2015 preseason estimate, and is above the recent ten year average. (Following the fishery and aerial surveys, Fish and Game estimates 2015 biomass was actually 228,807 tons.) Tim Sands is the area management biologist:

"It’s definitely a large biomass. We’re happy with that, we think that biomass there is stable and sustainable, and that’s a good thing.”

That size biomass will leave nearly 29,000 tons available for harvest in the Togiak sac roe fishery, after setting aside some for Dutch Harbor food and bait and the Togiak spawn-on-kelp fisheries. Last season, the seiners caught most of their quota but the gillnetters barely made a dent in theirs. There wasn’t much participation from either gear group, and Sands says he’s not sure that will change in 2016:

“I think the big thing comes down to the price, and whether it’s worthwhile for fishermen to go out and fish for it. I haven’t heard anything market-wise that the price is better, no new markets developed, so I don’t know if there’s going to be much more interest this year than last year.”

While Togiak has seen depressed prices for several years, there’s some hope that the size of the herring will spark some interest in processors, who will perhaps find a better market.  Last year Togiak herring fishermen said the size and quality was some of the best they’d ever seen, and Fish and Game is expecting an average size of 350 grams:

“That’s the thing about Togiak, is they’re older, bigger fish. I think Sitka you’re talking a 180 gram fish is a big fish, and our big fish are over 400. I think our average for the fishery last year was just over 400, 406 grams, something like that.”

While the fishery itself is a long ways off, some participation could come sooner: there are a handful of Togiak Herring proposals that will be considered at the Board of Fish meeting this December. One would make it easier for the manager to direct the fishery if one gear group is doing better than the other, like last year’s seiners did on account of low gill net participation. Another proposal would take “sac roe” out of the management plan, hoping to see the fishery seek out markets for more of the herring product beyond the pre-spawn eggs.

Reach the author at dave@kdlg.org.