Unalaska, AK – The Herring Food and Bait Fishery opened in Unalaska Bay on June 24, however, gillnet fisherman say they are having trouble finding the fish. There are two seine vessels and two gill-netters participating in this year's fishery.

One of the fishermen is Dave Gregory. He said that the fish usually get into the bay at the beginning of July, but this year they seem delayed. He said he has heard reports that there are fish in Akutan, but they have not shown up yet in Unalaska Bay. Gregory has been catching a few fish, but not in large quantities yet.

"Just over the last weekend, I was out in my boat, and then there's another boat out fishing, and we've seen a few schools, but they're pretty deep. And they're really kind of skittish and it's hard to get them on the surface and our nets don't go down real deep."

Gregory explained that often times, they end up driving around the Bay watching their depth-finder in search of a group of fish.

"Last year there were fish everywhere, and we had no problem at all catching them. But this year, without an airplane to spot the schools and direct us to them, it's pretty much a drive around and hit or miss that we see something on our depth-finder then we can try to go to work on it. So it's been real slow," Gregory said.

The seiners are using spotter planes and have been much more successful. The seine fishery allocation is 1,323 tons. One hundred tons are available for the pound fishery, which is a floating pen that herring can be put into that allows a better food product.

The allocation for the gillnet fishery is 224 tons. The herring fishery varies from year to year, and this year has been slow, which Gregory said is discouraging.

"Part of the problem is you get, like this year, where you get all tooled up and you buy net and reel and supplies and everything, and then you go out there and you can't catch anything," he said. "So, it makes it hard to spend a bunch of money not knowing if the fish are going to show up and we're going to get them. We're hopeful that someday that this gillnet fishery will be a good small boat fishery for the area. We just have to dial in our markets a little bit better and maybe think about having a little spotter plane come out here and help us find them, and then we can start delivering fish on a more consistent basis and one of the big canneries might want to come and start taking it from us."

Herring begin spawning in late March and continue until mid-July. There are two types of herring that are caught in Alaskan waters, those in the Bering Sea, and those in the Gulf of Alaska. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website, the two fish are genetically distinct, and the Bering Sea herring are much larger than their gulf cousins. The website also stated that between 2000 and 2004, the harvest in Unalaska Bay had been stable, averaging 3.6 million pounds. ADF&G cannot report the amount of fish landed so far this year because there are fewer than three fishing vessels in each fishery. All of the herring are being delivered to Westward Seafoods.