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Picked up a herring pounding permit. A ton of work. Got in with a good crew. The game is to put herring in pens so they can spawn and the roe sticks to the kelp. A lot of steps in the process though.

In a nutshell, this is how it works:

Put together pens. With netting.
We picked approx 8k kelp leaves of the right size, age.
Strung all kelp on lines, and hung in pens.
Seined herring and strategically added to pens for four days.
Dropped nets on day 7. Released herring.
Harvested kelp. Packed in totes/salt/brine.

I think we ended up with 40+ totes of roe on kelp for 8 permits. Value to be determined. Market is Japan. I hope they are buying as it was a good year and we got some good product. Looking forward to next season already.

Sounds like a lot of work! How do they taste? Never tried it before. I saw that Craig had its first case of the bugaloo confirmed today. Stay healthy down there!

They are ok. Not really my thing though. But the Japanese love em. Big $$. Japan sends over it’s own crew to grade and process the stuff.

Good deal man. This weather has been great and lots of herring over on this side. Most I’ve seen in years.

Crazy amount of herring over here. Setting records. We had the one big storm that tattered some of our kelp. And those westerlies were really cold. Definitely got the layering figured out. Hands we were always froze.

What exactly does the permit allow you to do? X amount of net pen space? X amount of finished product?

It’s a limited entry permit. So, to participate. Takes about 24k to get one. Regs are set for pen space and blades of kelp per pen/permit holder.

That sounds really fun and interesting! Glad you guys are keeping busy.

Herring eggs on Kelp are popular out here. My daughter loves her crunchy eggs.

I hope prices are up for you. Good job.

Had no idea herring pounding was a thing.

Sounds like a ton of work.

Hope you get a great price for all that work.

Some years you can do all that work, and the herring don’t spawn. All that work for nothing. Nature of the business.

Calvin: Thank you for the explanation and the great photos of what you are doing.
Very interesting.
One question is the large "thing" you are holding up in picture #1 a kelp leaf with "roe" on it or an old rusty propeller?
TIA
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy (Land-lubber)

Was not aware of that market at all. One learns something new every day.

I thought that stuff was used to make super glue......

It’s a blade of kelp covered with herring eggs.

The stuff is usually high $$ due to the fact the Japanese see it as a fertility aid. They are cut into squares and put in gift packs with other stuff and traditionally given as a wedding gift.

Cool!!

Good to see you're staying busy and out of trouble Joel! Congrats on the pound permit

That is crazy Joel. When you sent me that pic and said you were herring fishing, that is not at all what iI pictured!

I hope you guys get great prices!