PACIFIC HERRING 
277 
entered the lagoon, but found little sign of herring; even the gulls and sea birds had 
left. 
For several days the shores of Kachemak Bay, from Bear Cove to Seldovia, were 
searched without success, but finally on May 12, returning from Homer Spit, a flock 
of sea gulls was noticed behind McDonald Spit. It was 3 o’clock in the afternoon 
and high tide when we entered a lagoon behind a sand bar that comprised about a 
square mile. The water was clear, smooth, and transparent. Schools of herring, 
showing a marked range in size with the smaller fish in the majority, were swimming 
about everywhere, exhibiting little fear of our boat. As soon as the tide commenced 
to fall they approached the shore and rippled the surface as they swam restlessly 
about. When the tide was about a quarter out they commenced to spawn all around 
the shores of the lagoon in the eel grass which grew abundantly about a foot in length. 
Many, left stranded by the falling tide, were being devoured by thousands of sea 
gulls that had gathered as if by magic. 
At first the herring spawned only around the shores, but when the tide had fallen 
farther, they spawned over the entire floor of the lagoon, which at low tide was covered 
with about 2 feet of water and carpeted luxuriantly with eel grass. For a while the 
water was a light brown from the agitated mud, but gradually as the milt became 
disseminated the water became lighter until finally it was so milky that the eye could 
penetrate it a bare 6 inches. 
In spawning, the female, quivering from head to tail, turns on her side and 
moves slowly about, often describing a circle, meanwhile extruding the eggs in a 
thin stream which she rubs against the seaweed and eel grass. The eggs, coated with 
a gummy secretion, stick instantly to anything with which they come in contact. 
In like manner the male follows a few inches behind the female covering the attached 
eggs with a stream of milt. 
The herring seemed to be spawning in pairs, but several times we noticed one 
busily spawning away by itself. The spawning continued throughout the night and 
they were still spawning the next morning on a rising tide. 
On the 15th of May we obtained a sample of herring from Homer Spit that had 
spawned that morning. It would have been 10 days before the tide would again 
be high enough to cover their eggs. Many of the short spears of wiry grass not over 
a millimeter in diameter were covered with eggs until the mass was over a centimeter 
in diameter. These herring were all small and none were more than 4 years of age 
and many only 3, so that it was the first spawning for many, if not all, of this school. 
We were informed that the herring that had spawned at Homer Spit two weeks 
previously were larger. 
For several days the harbor at Halibut Cove had been filled with small herring, 
so small that on the 17th and again on the 18th of May we could only catch a dozen 
overnight in a gill net with 3-inch mesh, stretched measure. These few stragglers 
were extremely ripe. No more herring were obtained in Kachemak Bay until the 
summer fishing. 
In 1926 the herring were not seen leaving the lagoon until the 27th of April, 
whereas in 1927 when we arrived at Halibut Cove on the 17th of April the herring 
had already left the lagoon and large numbers had been congregated in the harbor 
behind Ismailof Island for over a week. The herring did not spawn for another three 
weeks, and yet, unlike the previous year, they were almost fearless. The harbor 
must have contained several thousand barrels of herring. They were so crowded 
and so unafraid that one rubbed the oars against them when rowing. 
