Herring Fishery

Looks like a decline in West Coast Herring this year. closer to 2020 West of Vancouver Island, stocks have not supported a commercial harvest since 2005.

West coast Herring

FN0322-COMMERCIAL - Herring - Roe: West Coast Vancouver Island - Herring Stock Assessment Program - Final Bulletin - March 30, 2023

2023 Total Herring WCVI: 17,000 tons estimated

2022 Total Herring WCVI: 28,500 tons estimated(Area 23-25)

2021 Total Herring WCVI: 23,425 tons(Area 23-25)

2020: TOTAL WCVI: 15,280 tonnes (peak estimate)

2019 Total WCVI: 21,600 tonnes

2018 TOTAL WCVI: 27,500 tons


1680291774854.png
 
Here is a chart from just south of us. Its current to 2022 and I like how they lay out all the data.https://pspwa.app.box.com/s/jogxmuw51h2wghaow1kywpguek1u4epe
 
Last edited:
wildmanyeah said:
Sad to see cherry point down to 100 tonnes
Click to expand...
Yea, apparently used to be their biggest stock.
  • The Cherry Point herring stock, once the largest stock in Puget Sound, is estimated to be less than 1% of its historic high and shows no sign of recovery. The Cherry Point spawning biomass estimate in 2022 was the lowest on record.
 
I don't know Puget Sound - but from the available literature it appears that there are ongoing chronic releases rather than any 1 reported large spill:


as far as single events of large spills - in Valdez/Prince William Sound after the ‘Exxon Valdez’ oil spill - the continual leakage of PAHs from the crude oil from the sediments depressed the immune system of the herring inducing a breakout of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) which then caused the 1992–1993 collapse of the Prince William Sound (PWS) herring fishery:

 
Another article exploring what little is known about the life adventure of Herring and other forage fish in our area.https://www.eopugetsound.org/node/163813
 
agentaqua said:
I don't know Puget Sound - but from the available literature it appears that there are ongoing chronic releases rather than any 1 reported large spill:


as far as single events of large spills - in Valdez/Prince William Sound after the ‘Exxon Valdez’ oil spill - the continual leakage of PAHs from the crude oil from the sediments depressed the immune system of the herring inducing a breakout of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) which then caused the 1992–1993 collapse of the Prince William Sound (PWS) herring fishery:

Click to expand...
The links you cited only talk about the potential consequences of a spill in Puget Sound as far as i can tell.
 
Yeah I realized I was getting the Puget sound story confused with somthing else. Good memory refresher. The pugent sound herring was wiped out by the seiners years ago and since then the industrial industry in puget sound pretty much ruined the water column. So its been a long recovery. The industry in pugent sound has been unbelievably pollutant over the last 100 years between the huge shipyards, metal manufacturing, and mills.

wdfw.wa.gov

Exposure of Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasi) to Persistent Organic Pollutants in Puget Sound and the Georgia Basin

wdfw.wa.gov wdfw.wa.gov

Vital Signs | Contaminants in Pacific herring

vitalsigns.pugetsoundinfo.wa.gov vitalsigns.pugetsoundinfo.wa.gov
 

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350

Fortunately only two of five stocks are exceeding safe contaminant levels and all five are trending in the right direction. It's good to see even the two most industrialised Basins are trending to contaminant decreasing. Both Cherry Point and Semiahmoo look to be below fish health thresholds as far as Contaminants go.
 
terrin said:
350

Fortunately only two of five stocks are exceeding safe contaminant levels and all five are trending in the right direction. It's good to see even the two most industrialised Basins are trending to contaminant decreasing. Both Cherry Point and Semiahmoo look to be below fish health thresholds as far as Contaminants go.
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Yeah I think with all the improvements over the years on cleanliness on industrial activities the contaminants are improving. Puget sound doesn't have alot of drainage. With those huge industries there and the old ways of doing things with big industry inside those inlets, it really paints a picture.

The Naval shipyard built ...

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard was established in 1891. In World War I, it built seven submarines, 25 sub chasers, seven oceangoing tugs, two minesweepers and two ammunition ships, along with 1,700 small boats
 
Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s (DFO) 2023/2024 Integrated Fisheries Management Plan draft forecasted median spawning biomass of 80,288 tons in 2023 and 80,882 tons in 2024. This year’s harvest target may reach a maximum of 10 per cent of this said biomass, allowing fishermen to catch roughly 8,000 tons of herring. The Food and Bait, and Special Use fisheries, will be authorized to catch about 3,000 tons, while the remaining 5,000 tons will go to roe fisheries in early spring of next year.
 
wildmanyeah said:
Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s (DFO) 2023/2024 Integrated Fisheries Management Plan draft forecasted median spawning biomass of 80,288 tons in 2023 and 80,882 tons in 2024. This year’s harvest target may reach a maximum of 10 per cent of this said biomass, allowing fishermen to catch roughly 8,000 tons of herring. The Food and Bait, and Special Use fisheries, will be authorized to catch about 3,000 tons, while the remaining 5,000 tons will go to roe fisheries in early spring of next year.
Click to expand...
Do we have updated spawning biomass numbers yet for 2024? Thanks
 
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