SUBSISTENCE HERRING FISHING, 1990

Nelson Island District

Harvest and production of herring for subsistence use by Nelson Island area residents has been described in detail in previous reports (Pete and Kreher 1986; Pete et al. 1987; Pete 1990). The subsistence fishery was executed in essentially the same manner in 1990. Gear used in areas fished was similar to those reported earlier. Briefly, boats used were locally made wooden or purchased aluminum skiffs 14- to 28-feet in length; gillnets between 2- to 2-3/4-inch mesh and 60- to 300-feet long were set; and areas fished were traditionally productive sites located near communities.

Production activities were organized and managed usually by a couple in charge of extended family-based work groups. Generally, men oversee and engage in fishing, and women take care of processing and storing. Extended families involving members of more than one household and many individuals with a wide age range cooperated in production activities.

In Tununak, gillnets were usually set as soon as the adjacent shoreline was ice-free, and herring were present in appreciable numbers in traditional fishing areas, a time span from mid May to early June. The other communities waited until rivers were clear of ice (Newtok and Nightmute) or subsequent runs of herring, noted for lower oil content, arrived (Toksook Bay). Thus, fishing generally occurred from mid May through mid June around Nelson Island.

The 1990 subsistence herring season was unusual; subsistence fishing for herring resulted in differential success depending on timing of harvest and the area fished. Fishing families made adjustments to the prevalence of fatty herring throughout the entire season, and fewer herring congregated in schools of highly variable sizes. They fished longer and tried different mesh-sized nets to get herring for subsistence.

In 1990, Tununak families fished from late May through the second week of June. Toksook Bay and Newtok families fishing activities extended from early June through late June. Respondents related reasons for the longer fishing season to poor returns and unusual quality of herring.

Herring were plentiful early in the 1990 season along the northern shore. Tununak families did not have much difficulty obtaining as much herring as they wanted with regular gear because they customarily fish early in the season. However, in 1990, many more herring were unusually fat. Each year, fishermen and processors make note of the oil content of herring as it affects spoilage. Spoilage is of particular concern in late June when weather is generally more sunny and windless, especially along the southern shore of Nelson Island.

The greater portion of strings of herring (piirat) processed as ullipengyiit in 1990 indicated the high oil content of herring caught for subsistence. This means more herring were subject to spoilage if suitable weather did not prevail. Ullipengayiit, plural; ullipengayaq, singular, means "those that are cut and exposed to the air." It refers to oily herring filleted and spread open for the oil to bead up to form a pellicle before braiding into strings to dry. Less fatty herring are processed into tamalkuryat, meaning "those that are whole (i.e., not filleted and exposed to air" and are gutted and immediately braided into strings (Pete and Kreher 1986; Pete et al. 1987). In the 1990 season, 25 percent of all strings of herring were processed as ullipengayiit on Nelson Island, compared to regional averages of 11.0 to 19.8 percent of all strings in 1986-88. In Tununak specifically, 28 percent of the 1990 catch was processed as ullipengayiit.

Newtok and Toksook Bay families experienced an even more difficult season in 1990 than Tununak families, which was further exacerbated by low gasoline supplies and unprecedented high prices ($5 per gallon). As mentioned, fishermen in both communities typically fish later than Tununak fishermen. Newtok fishermen have to wait for ice to break up in the Keyalivik River, which is their sole access to Hazen Bay. Toksook Bay (and Nightmute) families prefer to fish later in the season, when less-oily herring usually arrive in proportionately greater numbers. In 1990, herring abundance unexpectedly dropped off dramatically during mid June in the Nelson Island area, although there were slight periodic increases throughout late June along the southern shore. Furthermore, the reduced numbers of herring later in the season included a prevalence of fatty herring, rather than less oily herring which can be more reliably dried in late June.

Herring sizes were highly variable in all runs; large and small, or different age-classes, were mixed together. Generally, younger herring are smaller and less oily, so fishermen targeting these to catch set nets of smaller mesh size--usually 2-inch stretched mesh. In 1990, even the 2-inch mesh nets caught mostly small oily herring. Nets with different mesh sizes including mesh as small 1-1/4-inch and as long and 300 feet were strung together and set. After trying to use nets with different mesh sizes, some families suspended fishing until later in hopes of getting leaner herring. Large numbers of less oily herring never arrived.

Several families did not fish for herring at all, resulting in the lowest overall household involvement in herring production in the years of survey. Instead, the diverted efforts to increase halibut, Pacific cod, and salmon harvests, filling drying racks and freezers with these welcome, but less preferred, alternatives. Local residents do not consider halibut and Pacific cod adequate, or even improved, substitutes for herring, as non-local people may, but these species certainly are preferred by Nelson Island families to non-local, imported foods. Herring is the traditional winter food for Nelson Island families. Changing subsistence fishing strategies often means purchasing new gear and more gasoline, adjusting processing and drying facilities, investing more time fishing for other species, and altering subsistence production roles in the family.

Many respondents interpreted the unusual characteristics of the 1990 herring season as an indication of decreasing stocks. Some of these disturbing signs had been observed previously in herring stock reductions during the 1960s and 1970s, such as abundance of fatty herring, shorter duration of runs, and localization and concentration of spawning schools along Cape Vancouver and the northern shore of Nelson Island (Pete 1990). However, there were some differences. Respondents viewed the recent trends with more alarm. Nelson Island herring stocks may have not experienced full recovery form earlier shortages before current relapses. In earlier times of shortage, herring were uniformly large one year, and then decreased in size the next year. The mixed sizes and high oil content of herring throughout the 1990 season were believed to show that herring numbers might be in a more drastic decline in comparison to the declines in the 1960s and 1970s. Different-sized herring age-classes) were thought by local residents to be mixing because there were too few numbers to sustain large enough schools for normal spawning saturation as discrete age classes. Fewer herring with less competition for the abundant food have become uniformly fat. Consequently, in 1990, the subsistence herring fishery was distinctly stressful and unusual. . . .

Nunivak Island District

Timing of subsistence herring fishing on Nunivak Island is similar to that reported for Nelson Island. Herring are harvested from mid May to mid June. Most commonly, gillnets were set or "drifted" for herring with skiffs similar in size to that described for Nelson Island. Other methods harvest included using dipnets, picking herring by hand from tidal pools or throwing homemade "toss nets," approximately six feet in diameter, over spawning schools and pulling them closed and ashore with the "purse" full of herring.

Set and drift net fishing areas commonly used extended east and south from Mekoryuk to Cape Corwin. In 1990, most nets were set off Cape Etolin and in the Cape Manning area between Ikathleewik Bay (Iqalivik, meaning "place to get many herring") and Nooravloaksmiut Island (Nuugavluarmiut, "inhabitants of Nuugavluar (big bluff)" name for a campsite derived from the place-name of the coastal headland. Herring spawn-on-kelp was collected from the same areas. One family boated across Etolin Strait to the area west of Umkumiut on Nelson Island to get herring because they missed the unusually short window of harvest opportunity around Nunivak Island.

Although herring is harvested from camps along the eastern shore of Nunivak Island, all herring caught around Nunivak Island are noted to be consistently large and fat every year. Requiring more specialized processing than most herring caught around Nelson Island. Unlike the Nelson Island pattern, herring were not aged in pits. They were immediately beheaded and filleted with a knife through the back, rather than the softened ventral side. Herring were then braided through a section of backbone left near the tail, with locally collected beach grass into short strings of 15 to 40 herring each. The strings of herring were dipped in tubs of seawater to wash off slime and to add salt for taste and good drying. These strings were hung up to dry on racks with other fish or sea mammal meat. When dry, the strings are moved into smokehouses to be smoked with green willow and driftwood, a step rarely taken by Nelson Island herring fishing families. Smoking prevents the fat from turning rancid, increasing sustained palatability and storage life. The strings of herring were stored along with other dried products in caches for winter.

Key respondents noted the labor-intensive process, as one of the reasons Nunivak Island people did not specialize in subsistence herring production. Smoking herring is viewed as an extra, but necessary, step in subsistence herring production. Precious wood has to be gathered and cut (Nunivak Island is treeless tundra). The smoke has to be tended for several days to over one week. Other fish, even salmon, are rarely smoked, because they are generally not fat (salmon are caught primarily near spawning grounds). Halibut, Pacific cod and salmon, can be dried at fish camps without smoking. A few individuals thought that eating too much smoked products reduced endurance, a desired condition for walking throughout Nunivak Island to pursue subsistence activities.

Although harvest of herring spawn-on-kelp by Mekoryuk residents was not documented, it is believed to be considerable and may rival herring harvests in some years. Herring spawn-on-kelp not ate immediately is frozen or dried for later use. The dried product is easily reconstituted by soaking it in saltwater overnight.

As in Nelson Island, production of herring for subsistence use was a kin-based operation in Mekoryuk, with members of extended families generally a couple and their adult children in separate households, working together. Five former Nunivak Island families now living in Bethel customarily return to the island to produce herring for subsistence, as they had in 1990. The herring products redivided among relatives that helped with production. The majority of harvesters were men, but relatively more women fished for herring than was documented in Nelson Island communities. Women generally helped their husbands or picked herring from tidal pools near Mekoryuk. Most people (90 percent) involved in subsistence herring productions were between 25 and 70 years old; no one under 18 years old was involved in 1990.

The commercial herring sac-roe fishery initiated in 1985 brought heightened attention to the health of local herring stocks. Mekoryuk respondents noted that herring numbers have been decreasing since the mid-1980s. As around Nelson Island, herring do not stay in area waters as long as they had in the past. Herring also are used for bait in subsistence halibut and Pacific cod fishing; fishermen who drift for herring for bait noticed reduced schools that did not stay near shore as long as expected. Smaller numbers of herring make it more difficult to see "oiled" water surfaces which signal when vast schools have moved inshore to spawn. It has become confusing to gauge when herring fishing or spawn-on-kelp collecting activities should start or to plan for expected productivity. Depth or amount of roe deposited on kelp has become highly variable, according to local observations, affecting collecting activities, as well. Similar to Nelson Island, two families that usually fish for herring for food did not do so in 1990; they concentrated on halibut and Pacific cod fishing. . . .