Herring Protectors Respond to Board of Fish Process
Herring Protectors are urging the Board of Fish to vote to reduce the harm being perpetrated against people and ecosystems that depend on herring.
Herring Protectors are urging the Board of Fish to vote to reduce the harm being perpetrated against people and ecosystems that depend on herring. But the State must recognize that it can’t solve the fundamental conflict at the heart of the Sac-Roe industry, except by returning control to the rightful stewards of these fish. Until then, there will be conflict, and great risk of continued herring collapse. It’s time to return to an approach with 10,000 years of proven history. Return stewardship of the herring to the people of Sheet’ka Kwaan.
Sitka Tribe of Alaska (STA) has proposed a few modest changes to this management regime: sound proposals that would result in more herring being left in Sitka Sound where they belong, to feed our communities and power our marine ecosystems. These proposals would especially protect the mature, females that guide reliable spawning behavior and keep herring coming back to Sitka year after year. But even if the Board adopts all of STA’s proposals, it won’t resolve the fundamental problem with this fishery, which is that culturally, ecologically, economically significant forage fish simply shouldn’t be ground into fish meal.
On the other hand, the Sac-Roe/fishmeal industry has submitted several proposals attempting to limit subsistence access, while aggressively trying to remove the guardrails to their own industry at the expense of subsistence users and the larger ecosystem that our communities and other commercial fisheries rely on. We urge the Board of Fish to stand with the people of Sheet’ka Kwaan (Sitka) and support the on-the-ground community members who rely on the herring.