IINANG (Herring): UPDATE 1

Staff from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is looking at iinang herring health around Haida Gwaii again this year. DFO chartered FV Queens Reach to conduct the tests over 25 survey days.

The seiner left Port Hardy the morning of March 8 and arrived at GawGajaang Louscoone Inlet March 9. Three test fisheries at GawGajaang and around Xaagyah Gwaay.yaay Bolkus Island yielded no samples, though soundings indicate schools were present in the area. Work continues now at GaaysiiGas Kiidaay Burnaby Strait.

Haida Fisheries officers aboard the Haida Guardian, will team up with DFO staff aboard Queens Reach towards the week’s end to help identify accumulations of iinang and k’aaw herring roe on kelp.

The plan is to conduct herring tests from GawGajaang to Tlln Suu Selwyn Inlet March 10–15 before proceeding through Daa’ulgaay Skidegate Narrows to Duu Guusd the west coast of Haida Gwaii on March 16. There crews will study iinang populations from Kayy Kaahlii Port Louis to Xaana Kaahlii GawGaay Western Skidegate Inlet from March 16–23. Queens Reach will complete the remainder of the charter on the east coast.

Allied Shipbuilders built Queens Reach, a 19-metre drum seiner, in 1980 at the mouth of the Seymour River in Dollarton, North Vancouver. Legate Enterprises Ltd owns the vessel today.