A forecast of 136,756 tons of biomass has been issued for the Togiak herring fishery in 2018, allowing for a harvest of 27,351 tons, based on the 20 percent exploitation rate, with 1,500 tons for the Togiak spawn-on-kelp fishery.
Alaska state fisheries biologist set the Dutch Harbor food/bait allocation at 1,810 tons, based on seven percent of the remaining allowable harvest, with 24,042 tons for the Togiak District sac roe fishery. The purse seine allocation was set at 16,829 tons, or 70 percent; and the gill net allocation at 7,212 tons, or 30 percent. Last year’s forecast of a biomass of 130,852 tons allowed for a Togiak District sac roe fishery of 22,943 tons, with 16,060 tons for the purse seine harvesters and 6,883 tons for the gillnet fleet.
Biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) also announced a guideline harvest level for the 2018 Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery of 11,128 tons, based on a 20 percent harvest rate of a forecast mature biomass of 55,637 tons.
Like last year, the forecast will not be updated with winter test fishery weight at age, as had been done prior to the 2017 fishery, biologists said.
ADF&G has scheduled a stakeholder meeting at the Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association in Sitka at 6 p.m. on January 12 to discuss management strategies for the coming season.
