First signs of herring spawning raise excitement on Vancouver Island

Ryan Cutler was looking out the window from his home near Salmon Beach on the west coast of Vancouver Island last week when he noticed the ocean looked foamy.

Cutler immediately realized what was happening – the herring spawn was finally happening.

“It really is a wonderful time,” he said.

When Cutler took out his drone, that’s what he saw — foamy, milky blue-green water that’s a sign that herring are gathering to spawn in the shallow bays along the coast.

The herring spawn is an auspicious time around Vancouver Island and the south coast. For some coastal First Nations, It represents the arrival of spring and the time to gather food.

It’s also an important time for marine conservationists to take stock of the small, oily fish whose numbers are declining Due to overfishing in the last few decades.

A ‘big feast’

Herring are a dominant species that gather in large groups to breed.

They first lay eggs on seagrass and eelgrass, and then the males release milt (sperm), giving the milky color of the water.

Cutler says the signs of staging – when the herring begin to gather and prepare to spawn – were obvious for a few weeks before that moment.

He saw and heard sea lions gathering, dozens of eagles circling, and even humpback whales swimming by.

“The herring spawn is really a great time to come here,” he said. “Virtually all the wildlife we ​​have on the West Coast comes for this big feast.”

a change in the seasons

Nick Choudhary is president of the Island Marine Aquatic Working Group, which manages a Facebook page to help people track where and when the spawning is taking place.

Chaudhary, a member of the Da’naxda’xw First Nation, says the spawn is an important time for coastal First Nations.

“If we focus on the First Nations perspective, it’s a time to gather food, it’s a sign of (a) great change in the weather.”

Salmon Beach was one of the first spawning observed around Vancouver Island.

Chaudhary says part of the excitement about the herring spawn is seeing where it is happening each year and evaluating the fish stocks.

“We’re hearing about some spawning returning in areas where it hasn’t happened in a while,” he said.

Chaudhary says tracking when and where spawning is happening through the Island Marine Aquatic Working Group’s Facebook page can help people understand the impact of the advocacy work being done on stock management and fishing quotas.

“We’ve come a long way from the days of just catching fish and thinking there’s just endless abundance out there,” he said.

traditional food

Longtime fisherman and Stzuminus First Nation member Shirley Louis began learning more about herring a few years ago when the K’ul-Lhanumtsun Aquatic Resources Society (QARS) asked her to help with a documentary project about the fish.

QARS is a group of six Coast Salish First Nations dedicated to aquatic resource management, serving the Cowichan Tribes, Hlaalt First Nation, Layaxon First Nation, Penelkut Tribe, Stzuminus First Nation, and Tzuuba-Astex Nation.

“They say, Shirley, can you find someone to clean the fish for us?” He said.

“And so I called my aunties and uncle and they said, ‘Yes, we know how to clean herring. Do you want to smoke it or fry it?'”

Louie also learned to make and use a herring rake – a long pole with nails stuck into the side that is used to catch fish.

“I love learning about it. I think it’s really valuable,” he said. “We need to go back to our smokehouse, our traditional food.”