Public Radio for Alaska's Bristol Bay
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Togiak Herring Update... Slower Fishing on Friday

Thorey Munro

The herring harvest in the ongoing Togiak Sac Roe fishery slowed down a little on Friday. Friday’s total harvest was just over 820-tons with the purse seine fleet hauling in 475-tons and the gillnetters harvesting 346-tons of herring. 

The purse seine fleet only had 6-deliveries while the gillnetters managed 60-deliveries. The roe percentage of the purse seine harvest came in at 9-percent while the gillnetters managed a roe percentage of 10.3-percent. In total the fleets have hauled in just over 16-thousand tons out of a total quota of just over 30-thousand tons.    The gillnetters have harvested just over 43-percent of their quota while the purse seine fleet has brought in nearly 58-percent of their quota. In Saturday morning’s announcement Fish and Game noted that over the last 5-days, the gillnet fleet has harvested 30-percent of the total harvest each day keeping place with the allocation plan that calls for a 70-30 split between the 2 gear groups. On Saturday Fish and Game extended the purse seine part of the fishery another 48-hours through Monday night at 8. However, the fleet will have a reduced area for fishing. The gillnet part of the fishery is open until further notice. In other herring fishing news… Fish and Game opened the Goodnews Bay District Saturday morning through this coming Saturday night at 11. The only buyer in the Goodnews Bay District is Coastal Villages Seafood’s, which is owned by the local CDQ entity. In the announcement of the opening, Fish and Game stressed that fishermen must contact Coastal Villages Seafood’s prior to fishing. The number is 967-8009. Fishermen can also use VHF channel 6. Fish and Game cautioned that there is still a lot of ice in Goodnews Bay and conditions have been changing quickly. The threshold biomass needed to open up the Goodnews Bay District was 12-hundred tons and about 4-thousand tons was documented in a survey flight Wednesday. The current quota available in the District or the Guideline Harvest Level is 800 tons. Fish and Game asserts that the GHL could potentially increase is a greater biomass is observed during aerial surveys. At last report the Fish and Game test fishing crew was in Platinum. So far no word on a commercial fishery in Security Cove but interested fishermen and processors are asked to contact Fish and Game in Bethel. Current information about the herring fisheries in the Kuskokwim Area are available by calling the recorded message line in Bethel at 907-543-2598. Information can also be found on the Fish and Game website.