Thousands of herring just one to two months old were seen schooling around the Fisherman Bay docks over the Memorial Day weekend. Local volunteers working for the Lopez-based conservation nonprofit Kwiáht have found that young herring this size are the preferred summer prey of juvenile chinook and coho salmon.

Herring spawning in the San Juan Islands fell sharply since the 1960s as a result of over fishing. Shoal Bay and Mud Bay were once significant herring spawning areas but produce few young herring today. Most of the herring seen in the islands in recent years come from the late-spawning Cherry Point population near Bellingham, which now may be threatened by expansion of refineries and coal shipments.

Kwiáht’s Russel Barsh explains that island herring are beginning to recover where there are dense thickets of eelgrass or else the non-native brown seaweed sargassum.

“It seems to make little difference to herring,” Barsh said.

Sargassum may be replacing the function of lost eelgrass meadows.

Barsh says the Memorial Day flush of herring is a good sign, although it remains unclear whether these “babies” hatched from eggs laid within Fisherman Bay, or in the lush eelgrass beds that remain outside the bay. In either case, the Memorial Day herring flush indicates the importance of improving conditions in the bay, especially holding the line on anchoring, road runoff and chemical contamination.

Herring spawned on the Eastsound waterfront in 2011 and 2012, showing that herring habitat can be sustained in the more developed parts of the county.

For more info, contact Russel Barsh at RLBarsh@gmail.com.