Wednesday, October 24, 2012

No go again

Another season, another herring shutdown in Prince William Sound. Here's the bleak announcement from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Sixteen aerial surveys were conducted between 28 March and 30 April 2012..."

Is that like 16 aerial surveys that were conducted between 28 March and 30 April 1989?

What do you do with a drunken sailor early in a Pipeline Club mourning?

What do King Salmon eat?

Anonymous said...

Amen to that Brother. Maybe there is a connection to the lack of Chinooks and the huge harvest of herring. And for what, $100 per ton, if that. It is time for the Dept. to wake up and start listening to the few who care and just stop the harvest of herring. Period.

Anonymous said...

What do all the hatchery juvenile pink salmon eat? Same food as herring...

Probably no connection there.

Move along.

Anonymous said...

What do all the whales eat? Same food as king salmon...

Probably a connection there.

Can't kill the whales so let's work on reducing trawl bycatch.

Anonymous said...

Would a herring hatchery work?
Talk to the old timers, there was herring everywhere back in the day.

Anonymous said...

I believe that Prince William Sound acuculture will eventually be exposed as the culprit in many ecological imbalances. Not to mention the impact on lower Cook Inlet and Kodiak.

Anonymous said...

"This is fewer mile-days of spawn than documented in any year in which commercial fishing occurred since 1973."

This 2012 biomass estimate also had fewer survey days than any year in which a commercial fishery was held. ONE SURVEY DAY ONLY ON MONTAGUE ISLAND ON APRIL 25TH IS AN ABSOLUTE JOKE,and there was 1.9 miles of spawn that day. What about the week before and the week after. THE ADFG STAFF IN CORDOVA SHOULD BE ASHAMED

Anonymous said...

I am amazed at the comments on this page, the fool at 6.13 says it is time for the department to wake up and just stop the harvest of Herring, what did you think this article was about, The herring biomass is healthy elsewhere such as in Southeast where they also have a Hatchery Program. Does anyone remember when a Drunken tanker captain slept while his first mate cracked the Exxon Valdez wide open on a charted rock, which just happened to be within a few miles of the primary spawning grounds on Prince William Herring exactly when the herring were in to spawn, and since the herring have had hydrocarbon caused lesions and the population crashed immediatly afterward,they herring have never been right since and all other areas in the state are fine, they have hatcheries in Kodiak and in Southeast, but that never affected the herring population , it was the oil spill. They paid us minimal amounts for minimum lost income of 4 years , but now it has been 23 years of lost income. Do not believe propaganda from exxon, the reason for no herring is because they had the worst enviromental disaster in american history in the spawning grounds during spawning season and got away with it with the correct monetary contributions to the right people

Anonymous said...

there was herring everywhere in 1989

Anonymous said...

From the fool at 6:13 to the "expert" at 7:06. don't know where you have been for the last thirty years, but for some reason you are unaware of the loss of populations of herring around the Pacific North West and Alaska. Canada's herring stocks are almost all gone, Except for sitka the SEAk stocks are almost history, PWS, Cook Inlet, Kodiak are others. Sitka had a 29,000 quota last season, yet only harvested less than half of it, Togiak harvested less than its quota. Because they were NOT there. The Dept's continued bowing to the special interests who make the most noise has and continues to lead to over harvest of these stocks. During the same time that over harvesting of herring has been taking place, slowly but surely the Chinook populations have been decaying. As have the Halibut stocks. And all for what; a couple hundred dollars a ton and now even less. It is easy to blame the Exxon Valdez for PWS problems, but what ever the reason, they are are down and likely not coming back. The Federal agencies that set harvest levels in federal waters long ago put herring on the protected species list. Those agencies understand that the true value of herring to the eco system far out weighs the value of harvesting such a special forage fish. Perhaps you are one of the elite permit holders for SEAK herring and are worried about the future of your ability to continue the senseless harvest of herring. You should be. Because the movement to stop the fishing for this forage fish has started and the hand writing is on the wall. Buck up 7:06 and get smart. Set your personal self interests aside and advocate for the long term.

Anonymous said...

Hey 6:46, what time you meeting the coffee crowd in the morning? I'd love to come listen in on some more of your guys genius ideas and theories not only for herring but other fisheries as well. I need to decide if I'm gonna sell out or not. Thanks.