In late winter the herring spawn turns the shallows milky, and everything that eats arrives with them: sea lions, diving ducks, gulls, eagles in the trees. We go where the spawn is, and count what returns.
We learn where the spawn is a few days out, and go there.
Thursday to Sunday aboard Petrichor, our Catalina 36, out of Shilshole Bay Marina in Seattle: aboard from 5pm on the Thursday, back alongside by 3pm on the Sunday. Six aboard. The running costs are shared and the figure for this weekend is in the facts beside; a deposit holds your berth once the weekend is confirmed and comes off the total. The boat, what to expect and what to bring are on the quarterly weekends page.
The first weekend with six names goes. Nobody pays until a weekend fills. Weekends:
Who is counting what comes back, and what would it take to count it ourselves?
Welcoming Herring Home, Lauren Kaljur, Hakai Magazine, 2022. Squamish youth counting the spawn's return in Howe Sound.
Ancient harvests: A history of Salish Sea herring, David B. Williams, Encyclopedia of Puget Sound, 2019. Twelve thousand years of people going where the spawn is.
The first weekend to fill goes. Everyone who ticked it hears from Sean.
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Island Lab runs coastal research trips on chartered ships and members' own boats. Every gathering, past and coming, is at islandlab.dev/gatherings.