By Jim Paulin
For the Journal

The Alaska Board of Fisheries has doubled the gillnet herring quota in Unalaska, according to small boat fisheries advocate Bobby Storrs.

Storrs represented the Unalaska Native Fisherman's Association at the fish board's meeting in Anchorage in February.

The gillnet quota increased from 7 to 14 percent of the total catch, with the rest of the bait herring still going to the seine fleet.

Storrs persuaded the fish board to create the gillnet fishery four years ago to benefit small local boats. Last year, Royal Aleutian Seafoods bought the entire gillnet harvest of 108 tons, paying $400 a ton from 14 boats in the Aleutian Islands community.

[an error occurred while processing this directive] The majority of the Dutch Harbor herring is still rounded up by seiners. Previously, all the herring was harvested by seine boats, mainly from Sand Point and King Cove, with additional boats from Kodiak and Homer. Last July, the seiners harvested about 1,200 tons.

Storrs said a proposal for a "super exclusive" fishery from the fisherman's association aimed at keeping the gillnet fishery in the hands of local residents was rejected by the fish board. Most of the local gillnetters have full-time jobs onshore, as longshoremen or government workers, deriving their primary income from the industrial fishery in the nation's busiest fishing port.

Storrs said the fisherman's association had submitted a proposal calling for 30 percent of the quota, but he says 14 percent is a substantial increase. Storrs doubts if the gillnetters could find a market for 30 percent in the fishery that he describes as an ongoing learning experience.

Last summer during warm weather, 20 tons of herring spoiled from a lack of ice on the vessels and a long wait for processing. All the herring were caught in a single 24-hour period after two weeks of unsuccessful openings.

Jim Paulin can be reached at paulinjim@yahoo.com