Fishery Notice

North Coast Herring Update
Area 5 - Kitkatla

March 27, 2019 (21:00 hours):
Sounding operations continued along the top and east side of Gurd Island and 
through Freeman Pass today.  The spawn at Kitkatla Creek and Dries Inlet had 
subsided in the morning.  Increased bird and sea lion activity was observed 
along Serpentine Inlet.  Spot spawns were observed along the outside and north 
side of Freeman Pass.  A test set was conducted at Coquitlam Island on skimmer 
schools and showed a mix of spawned out and new fish.

Observations:
Gasboat Pass - March 25: FOB
Chief Point - March 25: FOB
Gravel Pit - March 25: Skimmers
Gravel Pit - March 26: Scratches
Gurd Inlet - March 22: Scratches and FOB
Gurd Island East - March 27: High abundance of skimmer schools
Gurd Island West - March 26: NFF  
Gurd Point - March 27: Numerous skimmer schools
Top of Gurd - March 26: Scratches and FOB 
Bottom of Gurd - March 27: FOB 
Freeman Pass - March 25: Scratches
Winter Rock - March 26: Numerous 15t-20t schools
Winter Rock - March 27: NFF
Serpentine Inlet  March 27: High abundance of skimmer schools
Kitkatla Creek - March 27: Skimmer schools
Wilcox Group - March 21: NFF
Dries Inlet - March 26: Active spawn, approx. 2 miles 
Snass Point - March 27: Scratches 
Coquitlam Island - March 25: Scratches 
Absalom Island - March 25: Scratches 
Porcher Peninsula - March 25: Numerous FOB
Porcher Peninsula - March 26: Skimmers, increasing in density towards Freeman 
Pass
Freeman Pass - March 27: 1700t-1800t 
Clamshell Island - March 26: NFF
Robert Island - March 26: Scratches

Test Sets:
Kitkatla Creek - March 16: 2500 t; 11%; 195mm; 62:53; 50-1-2; 0-0; 
(21.87g:86.11)
Kitkatla Creek - March 17: 2500-3000t; 11%; 20.1cm; 56:60; 54-3-3; 0-0; 
(20.29g:85.92g)
Top Gurd - March 18; 12.1%; 202mm; 58:59; 56-2-1; 0-0; (21.76g:85.42g)
Dries Inlet - March 20: 1000t; 9.7%; 198m;73:62; 51:6:4; 0-0; (18.88g:73.86g)
Porcher Peninsula - March 21: 650t-850t; 12.0%; 193mm; 59:68; 63-2-2; 0-0; 
(18.87g:78.89g)
Coquitlam Island - March 27: skimmer schools; 7.5%; 183 mm; 61:64; 53-6-5; 35-
0; (14.19g:62.43g)    

Total measured stocks in Area 5 to date: 4500 - 5000t

The next notice will be March 29.  

Definitions:
Scratches - Herring present in small schools 1 to 2 tons
Skimmer - Herring spread out near the surface, difficult to quantify
Fish on bottom (FOB) - Herring too close to the bottom to quantify
NFF - No Fish Found
Washed out spawn - Spawn that is coming to an end
Miles - Means nautical miles for this bulletin

ROE TEST CODE: Date;Location;roe yield;fish size;males:females;#1-#2-#3-
#spawned-#juvenile;(roe weight g:fish weight g)

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Jessica Ottley 250-627-3007

Fisheries & Oceans Operations Center - FN0295
Sent March 28, 2019 at 0951

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Printed from the Pacific Region web site on June 13, 2026 at 0814