Future of Fishing panel hopeful that Alaska s near-term crises will be met with long-term vision
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Sitka s Blessing of Herring Rock warms hearts on a cold day in spring
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“This was their first time seeing what subsistence herring eggs are all about,” says Tom Gamble, a former Tribal Council member and subsistence harvester, referring to his herring campers. “They’re really excited about it, they, they like to eat them, but they’re not really sure how to harvest them.”
This spring, Gamble shared some of his knowledge in a herring camp for kids, which he said created a lot of “aha” moments.
“There were a lot of those moments for these kids who had never seen anything like it before,” he said. “Giving them just the mental images for the first time, and being able to manipulate, you know, a branch and a twig and, and the hope that maybe they might get some eggs.”
Posted by Katherine Rose | Apr 7, 2021
Lucas Schmidt holds a buoy (often an empty milk jug or water bottle) as Tom Gamble demonstrates how to set a branch along the shoreline, the traditional method of gathering herring eggs. (Photo provided by Jeren Schmidt)
The beginning of the herring spawn in Sitka Sound signals the wind-down of commercial fishing, and the start of the subsistence harvest: The millenia-old tradition of submerging hemlock branches along the shoreline, and waiting for herring to coat them in a thick layer of eggs. KCAW recently spoke with one subsistence advocate who’s determined to see this tradition continue by working to protect herring stocks, and by teaching kids how to harvest eggs.