Herring Fishing

[ziggy]

That’s because a seal got the other 1/2

Lol, I can relate to that. Oh well half a fish is better than none and Snuffy has to eat as well I guess. Besides when you only bring home half a fish it’s easy to embellish by claiming you only managed to keep a quarter of it as opposed to half!

 

[Prfisher]

have to argue with you on this one.
If there is going to be a harvest of herring roe, I would rather see spawn on kelp harvesting rather than gill netting or seining herring and killing them for their roe.

You won’t get ride of spawn on kelp, first it is majority of First Nations doing it, secondly the fish don’t die.
The biomass has been the strongest in years in the sog, so they say.

Thanks for your comments. After doing some research I realize my thinking was well out of date.
When I was working in the Tahsis area in the 70's, I got a good look at the herring "gold rush" in Barklay Sound. To me, it seemed the ultimate in stupidity to not only decimate the live herring for their roe, but then to harvest the kelp that bore the eggs of the relatively few that managed to make it past the nets.
Again, facts outweigh half baked assumptions. A lesson to be re-learned, once in a while.

 

[macro]

Off topic, but wondering what the commercial take for Chinook was last season?

On topic. The squamish stream keepers have been working hard to restore herring habitat. Including wrapping creosote soaked pilings with material so that eggs laid don't die. Seems to be paying off.. Are any other groups using their research and trying to improve local habitats?

 

[mbowers]

I suppose the largest most important question that we should pose toward DFO, is: What is the current stock assessment?! Second: If the public perception is that BC stocks are so low, why then are there commercial Human food and Bait harvest fishing opportunities happening during the fall and winter?! Third: Why is the drive to close commercial Roe Herring harvest opportunities such a political hotbed during spring spawning period?! Sadly the immediate answer that we may all get is to BAN BAIT fishing and close sport harvest of herring. Careful what you wish for.

There is so much herring involved in spawning even with a roe fishery that the roe is rotting on the beach.

https://www.cheknews.ca/french-creek-stench-from-rotting-herring-roe-315963/

“In some areas it’s a foot thick"

 

[Bamfield Fishing]

There is so much herring involved in spawning even with a roe fishery that the roe is rotting on the beach.

https://www.cheknews.ca/french-creek-stench-from-rotting-herring-roe-315963/

“In some areas it’s a foot thick"

Probably worth reading to the end, that the problem seems to be exacerbated by a breakwater that's been built creating a catch basin. In any case it's not an indication that more harvest is needed to reduce the "waste". These systems have evolved to produce more eggs than are needed to provide insurance against unusual events that may kill off large amounts of the spawn. Our erroneous belief we can accuratly predict, and harvest all this excess capacity is primarily why fisheries always end up overharvesting. We cant predict it very well, miscalculations harm the stock for decades. And when some natural event happens that the excess was needed, the natural insurance policy was cancelled by our harvesting it.

Leave the herring alone, it's not just adult herring that feed salmon, eggs and larvae feed young salmon, and a whole host of other organisms essential to the food chain.

 

[Rain City]

Probably worth reading to the end, that the problem seems to be exacerbated by a breakwater that's been built creating a catch basin. In any case it's not an indication that more harvest is needed to reduce the "waste". These systems have evolved to produce more eggs than are needed to provide insurance against unusual events that may kill off large amounts of the spawn. Our erroneous belief we can accuratly predict, and harvest all this excess capacity is primarily why fisheries always end up overharvesting. We cant predict it very well, miscalculations harm the stock for decades. And when some natural event happens that the excess was needed, the natural insurance policy was cancelled by our harvesting it.

Leave the herring alone, it's not just adult herring that feed salmon, eggs and larvae feed young salmon, and a whole host of other organisms essential to the food chain.

I was going to add that, at the time they finally figured it out, it was probably a pretty "crazy" idea that even the dead salmon in the rivers are essential to the whole system. So how are we now so certain that a bunch of dead eggs aren't having a similar effect. Mother nature sure had her house in check until we showed up.

 

[macro]

That was also 2017 - And noted as an unusual event. Its 2019 now.. I'd rather have a few cases of to much spawn....

 

[wishiniwasfishin1]

That was also 2017 - And noted as an unusual event. Its 2019 now.. I'd rather have a few cases of to much spawn....

Like the old
‘there are too many salmon in the river so we have to increase our take to reduce waste’ argument...