SUBSISTENCE HERRING FISHING, 1991

Nelson Island District

Methods and patterns of harvest and production of herring for subsistence use by area residents have been described in detail in previous reports (Pete and Kreher 1986; Pete et al. 1987; Pete 1991a; Pete 1991b). The subsistence fishery was executed in generally the same manner in 1991 with similar adjustments to the low herring numbers as had been made in 1990. Gear used and areas fished were similar to those reported earlier. Briefly, boats used were locally made wooden or purchased aluminum skiffs 14 to 28 feet in length; gill nets with 2 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 charge of processing and storing. Extending families involving members of more than one household, and many individuals with a wide age range cooperated in production activities.

In Tununak, gill nets 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 1991 subsistence herring season was similar to the 1990 season in that it was considered to be unusual. According to local families, herring numbers were never considerable throughout the entire season, unlike the 1990 season when they were relatively plentiful early in the season and then decreased dramatically in mid June. Herring were consistently few throughout the 1991 season resulting in more labor-intensive harvesting activities. In further contrast to 1990, herring along the northern shore of Nelson Island essentially disappeared after the first week of June. This resulted in a very difficult season for Tununak and Newtok families who fished longer than usual and still yielded lower harvests.

In 1991, Tununak families fished from late May through the middle of June, about one week later than usual. Fishing activities by Toksook Bay, Newtok, and Nightmute families extended from early June through late June. Many families continued to fish later to increase their low harvests, as well as to target herring with lower oil content. These determined efforts by families in Toksook Bay and Nightmute resulted in relatively better harvests, but the quality of herring caught later when the weather is less conducive to drying may not improve their winter stores of herring due to increased spoilage.

As in 1990, many more herring were unusually fat compared to the late 1980s. 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, and interspersed with drizzling rain, especially along the southern shore of Nelson Island. Because of later administration of the survey, the surveyor observed several families in Toksook Bay and Newtok culling their drying racks of herring that had spoiled. In Toksook Bay, 40 percent of one family's and 60 percent of another family's processed catch were rotten and had to be thrown out. A family in Newtok discarded about one-third of their processed catch, with unwelcome prospects of more rotten fish as the sunny, windless weather continued after weeks of rain. The spoiled herring fell of the strings as they were being turned. A post-survey telephone report in early August from another Newtok family indicated 90 percent of their processed fish was unsuitable for human food; they planned to chop the oily mass into mix with dog food throughout the winter.

Understandably, an even greater proportion of strings of herring (piirat) was processed as ullipengayiit, plural; ullipengayaq; singular, means "those that are cut and exposed to the air" in 1991 than in 1990 which indicated the high oil content of herring caught for subsistence. This means that more herring were subject to spoilage if suitable weather did not prevail. In the 1991 season, 35.7 percent of all strings of herring were processed as ullipengayiit on Nelson Island, compared to regional averages of 11.0 to 19.7 percent of all strings in 19986-88, and 25 percent in 1990. In Tununak and Newtok, nearly one-half of the 1991 catch was processed as ullipengayiit.

After an initial brief showing of predominately large, fat herring in 1991, herring sizes were highly variable in all runs, as they had been in 1990. Large and small herring, or different age-classes, were mixed together. Generally, younger herring are smaller and less oily, so fishermen targeting these set nets of smaller mesh size--usually 2-inch stretch mesh. In 1990 and 1991, even the 2-inch mesh nets caught mostly small, oily herring. . . . Newtok and Tununak families had a particularly difficult fishing season. In 1991, in one striking example, a Tununak family got a total of four herring in an overnight set, whereas they usually got over a ton with the same net in the same place. A 4-inch mesh net they had set for cisco got more herring in the same amount of time. After experimenting with different mesh sizes, some families suspended fishing until later in hopes of getting more and/or leaner herring. However, large numbers of less oily herring never arrived.

Several families who usually fish for herring did not fish at all, resulting in the lowest overall household involvement in herring production in the years of the survey. Instead, they diverted efforts to increase smelt, halibut, Pacific cod, salmon, pike, and cisco harvests, filling drying racks and freezers with these welcome, but less-preferred alternatives. In 1991, harvested halibut were smaller than normal, and salmon runs were late, making local residents more apprehensive about the possibility of supplementing low herring harvests. In Newtok, the community with the most drastic decrease in harvest of herring, many men were spending several days away from the community to harvest pike to dry, rather than overnight trips to nearby pike set net sites. In that community, many more pike and whitefish were observed hanging on drying racks than during previous surveys. Restating important comments from the 1990 survey report, local residents do not consider halibut or 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 and 1991 herring seasons as indications of dramatically decreasing stocks. Some of these disturbing signs had been observed previously in herring stock reductions during the 1960s and 1970s, such as an 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 1991a). However, there were some differences. Respondents viewed the recent trends with more alarm. Nelson Island herring stocks may have not experienced full recovery from earlier shortages before current relapses. In early 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 and 1991 seasons 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 indicative of 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 has become uniformly fat (Pete 1991b). Consequently, in 1990 and 1991, the subsistence herring fishing seasons were distinctly stressful and unusual. . . .

Nunivak Island District

Patterns of subsistence herring production by residents of Mekoryuk were described in detail in the 1990 survey report, and much of the description here was summarized from that report (Pete 1991b). Timing and processing methods of subsistence herring on Nunivak Island are similar to those reported for Nelson Island. Herring are harvested from mid May to mid June. Harvesting methods differ somewhat from Nelson Island. Herring are harvested from mid May to mid June. Harvesting methods differ somewhat from Nelson Island. More commonly, gill nets were set or "drifted" for herring with skiffs similar in size to those described for Nelson Island. Other methods of harvest included using dipnets, picking herring by hand from tidal pools or throwing home-made "toss nets," approximately six feet in diameter, over spawning schools and pulling then closed and ashore with the "purse" full of herring. Because the commercial herring fishery occurred at the same time herring were near Mekoryuk, and considerable gear and personnel were directed to commercial efforts, many more families reported picking herring by hand in 1991 than in 1990.

Set and drift net fishing areas commonly used extended east and south from Mekoryuk to Cape Corwin. Herring spawn-on-kelp was collected from the same areas. In 1991, most collection areas were near the community of Mekoryuk. As in 1990, one family traveled by boat 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 near Nunivak Island.

Although herring is harvested from camps along the eastern shore of Nunivak Island, all herring is brought to Mekoryuk to be processed. Herring caught around Nunivak Island are noted to be consistently large and fat every year, requiring processing as ullipengayiit, or filleted fish. After braiding into relatively 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 better drying. These strings were hung up to dry on racks with other fish or sea mammal meat. When dry, the strings were moved into smokehouses and 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 the winter.

Key respondents noted the labor-intensive process, as one of the reasons Nunivak Island people did not specialize in subsistence herring production and use. Smoking herring is viewed as an extra, but necessary, step in the subsistence herring processing. 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 eating too much smoked products reduced endurance, a desired condition for walking throughout Nunivak Island to pursue subsistence activities.

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 and 1991. Only three of the five families were successful at harvesting herring in 1991.

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. As in 1990, most people (90 percent) involved in subsistence herring production were between 25 and 70 year old; no one under 18 years old was involved in 1991.

More detailed harvest levels of herring spawn-on-kelp were collected in 1991. Gathering areas coincided with herring fishing areas. Areas near Mekoryuk have been the most frequently used together herring spawn-on-kelp, especially since the development of the commercial sac-roe fishery. Respondents noted also, that women and children have become the most productive collectors since many men were occupied with the commercial fishery.

Collection and use of herring spawn-on-kelp were primarily by household, rather than fishing family; a household generally consumed or stored the spawn-on-kelp they harvested. Respondents reported some trade of spawn-on-kelp primarily for dried salmon from families along the Kuskokwim River. However, with recent declines in herring numbers and difficulties in the subsistence and commercial herring fisheries, that activity was thought to be at much reduced levels than in the past. Most spawn-on-kelp collected was eaten relatively quickly; the remainder was frozen, and less frequently dried, to be reconstituted for use later.

Mekoryuk respondents concur with their neighbors in Nelson Island. According to their observations, herring numbers have been decreasing since the mid-1980s. Each season, there seems to be a progressively shorter time span when herring stay in waters off Nunivak Island, decreasing the effective fishing time (Pete 1991b). These changes have made herring a less reliable source than it has been in the past. As in 1990, two families that usually fish for herring for food did not do so in 1991. Instead, they concentrated on halibut and Pacific cod fishing. . . .