Petersburg Pilot -

Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Feb. 29 the final guideline harvest level (GHL) for the 2016 Sitka Sound herring fishery will be 14,941 tons. This is based on a 20% harvest rate of a forecast mature biomass of 74,707 tons. It is expected that 200 tons will be harvested in the winter bait test fishery which will be subtracted from the GHL resulting in a target harvest of 14,741 tons for the Sitka herring sac roe fishery.

Test fishery samples taken in early February showed average weight at age for all age classes were less than the average weight at age from 2015 winter samples....