Wrangell Sentinel -

Sitka ­– The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Dec. 6 the preliminary guideline harvest level (GHL) for the 2014 Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery is 17,592 tons based on a 20% harvest rate of a forecast biomass of 87,958 tons.

The department uses an age structured analysis (ASA) model which uses a long time series of abundance and age composition data from department surveys conducted during and following the spring fishery. Herring abundance is estimated using aerial surveys designed to map the length of shoreline receiving spawn, and dive surveys which estimate the densit...