Roughly 50 vessels are in the waters off the mid-island for the annual herring roe fishery, a decrease in boats from last year. (Fisheries and Oceans Canada)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

going fishing

Herring roe fishery opens in Strait of Georgia

Mar 10, 2021 | 12:10 PM

NANAIMO — Fleets of fishing boats are in the waters throughout the Strait of Georgia for the annual commercial herring fishery in the Strait of Georgia.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada confirmed the annual herring roe fishery opened at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 9 for the seine fishery fleet.

The DFO gave the go-ahead to the gillnet fishery to begin collecting their catch on Wednesday. March 10 at 1 p.m.

More than 150 combined seiners and gillnet vessels are participating this year. The amount of boats in the water is down by roughly 25 from last year.

The boats can catch up to 16,330 tonnes of herring biomass in the Strait of Georgia in the coming days. The allowable catch rate was set at 20 per cent of the projected population, same as the year before.

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“The herring fleet has the capacity to reach catch quotes under favourable conditions,” the DFO said in an email to NanaimoNewsNOW.

Many factors are at play in how long the fishery is open. The DFO said it’s lasted as short as only a few hours but recently lasts for several days.

The Strait of Georgia fishery stretches between the Comox area to east of Ladysmith.

A recent DFO fishery notice pegged a healthy population of 20,000 tonnes of herring in the Nanaimo area between Neck Point and Dodds Narrows.

Commercial herring fisheries on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii and the north coast are closed to rebuild stocks.

The department maintains the 20 per cent catch rate will protect the future stock health in the waters off Vancouver Island.

Several conservation groups support a moratorium for the annual Strait of Georgia fishery, which is also backed by Coutenay-Alberni NDP MP Gord Johns.

The DFO said it conducts annual scientific surveys of all five major pacific herring stock areas.

“DFO scientists use computer models to test the ability of various management approaches to maintain herring stocks above the limit reference point and has confirmed that the current management approach is highly likely to conserve the stock over the long term.”

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