Tag Archives: herring fishing
Reflections on herring fishing then and now
Scandinavians are known for their fondness for pickled herring. You’d think that they’d be excited about the herring fishing in the Kodiak archipelago this past week. I know of several Scandinavian fishermen who are on the grounds, but it’s the roe (eggs) they’re after. Japanese buyers have been known to pay top dollar for these delicacies. However, fisherman Luke Lester, skipper of the F/V Crimson Beauty, said that the market for roe has been declining because the upcoming generations in Japan and other Asian countries haven’t acquired the taste for roe that their ancestors had. On the other hand, there’s a demand for the herring itself in European countries. But with rising costs in fuel and other expenses, the cost in shipping the valued fish to those markets is astronomical, Luke said. Back in the early 1980s,,, >click to read< 14:06 Mike Rostad
Humpbacks hounding herring in Aleutians
On Monday, Russell reported about 1,200 tons harvested from a quota of 1,878 tons. Normally, fishing would be done by now, he said, but for two problems: The whales, and the “huge biomass” of herring swimming too deep. Fishermen ideally want to catch the fish on the surface, but can round them up to a maximum of 10 fathoms, or 60 feet, he said. “Nice long ribbons” of underwater herring were seen on fishing boat electronics monitors. “They can see the fish, but they won’t come up,” Russell said. “The fish seem to be pretty scattered between Akutan and Unimak Pass.” Read the rest here 11:39
