“Kake fisherman curates for Museum of the American Indian – ‘Listening to Our Ancestors’ exhibit will include more than 400 items from Alaska” by Korry Keeker, Juneau Empire 1/30/06
Clarence Jackson, Director, Sealaska Corporation, noted that he has been a herring egg collector since the 1960s. He recalled his childhood summers fishing on board his grandparents’ boat beginning in 1938 when the herring stocks stretched from shore to shore in Chatham Strait, from the northern tip of Kuiu Island all the way to Baranof Island. It seemed like the water was boiling with herring and the herring boats cleaned up as fast as they could. Of course, the herring disappeared during his time as a youth, he said. During the 1960s he opposed a bait fishery that was proposed for the Kake area because that herring spawn took care of the people in Kake. But an opening was held one winter and since about 1965 there has not been another herring spawn. He said he began transplanting herring eggs when he started hauling eggs to give away, and now there are little spawns.
Mr. Jackson explained that he sends boxes of herring eggs, a prized food of his people, all over the country. He does not do this for pay, but to help the people who have lived off this food. He said he used to send anywhere from 100 to 160 boxes of eggs, but because the herring stock has gone so low he had to reduce the number of boxes to 40 two years ago, as well as reduce the weight of each box from 55 pounds to 30 pounds. He said even this amount is a struggle to come by and it seems to him that the stock is having a problem. Instead of herring boiling the water as far as the eye can see, he now has to travel a long way to find a patch of herring. Before the people of Kake had power boats, they would move to Port Houghton to put up herring eggs, he related. Further, his great-grandfather used to say that food is money and when there is food put up there is no problem. This is still true today, he stressed.
Mr. Jackson maintained that the solution is not to study this situation to death. The solution is to start taking steps to preserve the stock, to protect the herring that is there. Despite his 35 years of transplanting 500 pounds of herring roe annually, there is still not millions of herring in Kake. While herring are coming back to Kake, the numbers are so small that a spawn is hardly ever seen. This is of concern because the Kake people are not going to give up something that is in their culture, he said. While he is not necessarily opposed to studies, Mr. Jackson said he is worried that studies will be used to keep extending the status quo. The herring need to “boil” in the water again, he declared.
