April 2008 Cruise News

Hi everyone:

We were disappointed we didn't get any photographs of this year's herring sac roe fishery.  Unfortunately, the herring showed up in places where we couldn't watch from shore.  But, we found the photograph below online and it tells the whole story. 

Expecting healthy numbers of spawning fish, state biologists allowed seiners to harvest a record-breaking amount of herring in Southeast Alaska's Sitka Sound this year -- 14,723 tons.  In just two stunning hauls, the fishermen netted more than 10,000 tons of fish -- most of their quota.  At a price of $550 per ton of herring, that was at least a $5.5 million day.  Some eight to 10 boats each bulged their nets with 500 or more tons of Pacific herring in the first 30-minute opening.  That's like hauling up several blue whales or fully-loaded 747s. Ordinary seine boats can't carry that much weight. The fish have to be pumped out of the nets while they are still in the water.

The commercially-caught herring, which are also highly valued by Southeast Natives for their eggs, are exported to Japan for their roe.  About 50 permit holders jockeyed for a sweet spot on the water near Kruzof Island. But as usual, the big hauls were made by a few lucky boats. In one day, the Sitka Sound herring fishery exceeded last year's gross earnings, garnered over nine days.

Last year, 50 permit holders, the majority of them Alaskans, earned $3.8 million -- an average of $107,709 per permit -- by catching 8,320 tons of herring. Prices were lower last year -- about $465 per ton.

Participating in the fishery isn't cheap. Permits are worth about $283,000 this year, according to the state's Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission.   A net to catch the herring is a $50,000 investment.

Here are the details we found on the web for the "winning" boat:

Total 1825 tons
$645 ($550 plus bonuses for premium roe percentages) per ton = $ 1,177,125
crew share 10% ($117,000!!!)

Everyone said they would get $1000 a ton, but the roe was a little immature so they only ended up with $550 a ton. The "winning" boat was the Infinite Glory out of Homer. This year the fishery was allocated one of the largest quotas in history--14,723 tons. The take is only 8% of the expected total spawners in Sitka Sound.

The vessels are 58 feet or less as per the regulations. Herring never even touch their boats.  Just wrap em and wait for a tender. A few of the tenders were crab boats from the Deadliest Catch.

1/2 the fish died before processing had finished.

Fishing Time Totals - 9 hr 30 min

Bald eagles arrived in numbers to take their share of the herring.  An unusual number of eagles wintered over in Sitka, with 124 eagles being treated at the Raptor Center by April 15th.  The Raptor Center treated about that number of eagles the entire 2007.

And later in April we had well over a week of sunshine and beautiful sunsets.  We were finally able to get some boat work done on the exterior.  So she is spiffed up and ready for summer.

Red sky at night.....sailor's delight.

This will be the last cruise news for awhile.  We are heading out in early May and won't be returning to Sitka until the latter part of July.  We have four sets of guests coming this summer and we are looking forward to showing them why we love it up here so much.  So stay tuned for those stories. 

Have a wonderful summer and keep those emails coming.  After May 2nd, please email us at our pocketmail email address.  We won't have access to our MSN account.  Don't forget:  no jokes, photos or enclosures on Pocketmail.  It takes way too long to download from the cell phone.  Thanks!    

Chris and Chuck