The Alaska Board of Fisheries is taking up a proposal at its meeting in Anchorage, from March 11-16, which would establish a nearly continuous ten-month long Kodiak herring fishery from April until the end of January annually.
Currently, Kodiak has two herring fisheries – a sac roe fishery, which targets female fishes’ eggs, from April 1 through the end of June.
And then a food and bait season from September through Feb. 28. Roughly 140 permits are currently active across all gear types for these Kodiak fisheries according to the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission, but just a handful actually participated in last year's herring fishery. Only nine of those are active for the food and bait fishery.
The proposal was first brought up during last month’s Board of Fisheries meeting in Ketchikan, from Jan. 28 through Feb. 9.
If the Board passes the measure, there would still remain a separate herring food and bait season, which would be altered to last one month from Oct. 26 through the end of November. Kodiak herring fishing would include an “A” season from April 1 through Oct. 25, and a “B” season from Dec. 1 through Jan. 31.
A Herring Revitalization Committee was formed last spring in March of 2024 in response to the herring fishery’s myriad of issues statewide, such as a growing biomass of fish, poor participation in the sac roe fisheries and a lack of a market. The proposal before the Board this week is the committee’s first recommendation after it concluded its work within two meetings.
Kodiak fishermen Bruce Schactler submitted the original proposal, on behalf of the Herring Revitalization Committee, to allow herring fishing in the Kodiak area from April through the end of January.
If passed, the proposal would also require that fishermen have a committed buyer and the buyer’s permission before fishing.
According to the proposal, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the processing sector support the proposed changes to the Kodiak herring fishery. The Board of Fisheries will deliberate on this, along with several Kodiak salmon and crab proposals, later this week.
Editor's Note: This story was updated to note that although 140 permits are considered active for Kodiak's herring fisheries, only a few actually fished last year.
