Bring back the herring!

Please join us in urging the Alaska Departmentof Fish and Game to take action to protect the herring in Sitka Sound. We demand a moratorium on the Sitka Sound Sac Roe Herring Fishery in order to prevent a total collapse in the Sitka Sound herring population. A moratorium would allow herring stocks to rebuild, provide time for a careful reassessment of the fishery, and would prioritize subsistence use as per AS 16.05.258(b).

Herring are a keystone species in Southeast Alaska's marine ecosystem—an ecosystem that supports local and tribal subsistence needs as well as multi-million dollar fishing & tourism industries. Salmon, halibut, seals, sea lions, whales and seabirds all depend on herring. If the herring population collapses, the town of Sitka will be economically and ecologically crippled—longliners, salmon trollers and seiners, charter boat captains, tour boat operators, and their respective 'shore support' businesses will be affected, and the impacts will be felt throughout Southeast Alaska. Additionally, local people - already strained by the relative unavailability of herring roe in recent years - will be severely limited in their ability to obtain subsistence food and practice subsistence culture.

State law requires subsistence priority. Current legislation [AS 16.05.258 (b)] states in Section 4, subsection A that "if the harvestable portion of the stock or population is not sufficient to provide a reasonable opportunity for subsistence uses, the appropriate board shall (A) adopt regulations eliminating uses, other than subsistence uses." However, the Sitka Tribe of Alaska (STA) has been telling the Board of Fisheries for over 20 years that their ability to traditionally and sustainably harvest herring roe on kelp and on branches has become increasingly difficult. This year, many community members and representatives of STA and the Central Council for Tlingit and Haida attended the local Board of Fisheries (BOF) hearings demanding that the BOF listen to their concerns about the health of the herring and their inability to obtain their traditional subsistence food source. The BOF violated Statute [AS 16.05.258 (b)] by not validating and recognizing their concerns through appropriate action.

What is the current state of the herring population in Sitka Sound? Honestly, no one really knows what's going on. What we do know, without a doubt, is that the herring are in a severe decline. Ask any local who's lived in Sitka for more than a decade and they'll tell you that the herring are not nearly as abundant as they once were. Tlingit elders will tell you that this is what they've been warning the fisheries managers about for decades. The archaeological evidence makes it clear that we are working within a shifted baseline. ADF&G management has led to the collapse of herring fisheries across Southeast Alaska.

But what does the science say? In January, the BOF met in Sitka and listened to scientific reports from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) stating that the herring populations are healthy. They also listened to over a hundred public testimonies from locals and STA members who cried out in defense of herring conservation and voiced their concerns over the decline they witnessed firsthand. The BOF ignored the discrepancy between ADFG's science and the public's testimony. The herring resource is far too valuable to risk by ignoring such a glaring discrepancy.

We understand the desire to provide economic opportunity in Sitka Sound, but we risk destroying future economic and cultural opportunities if we don't manage the herring resource sustainably. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the Board of Fisheries are obligated under state law to do the right thing by issuing a moratorium on the Sitka Sound Sac Roe fishery by emergency order until subsistence needs are once again being regularly met & further scientific investigation is done to understand the discrepancy between what ADFG reports and what local Sitkans are witnessing with the herring in Sitka Sound. Let's hold them to it.

We are a local grassroots collective of concerned Sitkans and Southeast Alaskans who depend on the health of the marine ecosystem for their subsistence and economic livelihoods.