Silver of the Sea
By Marilyn Guille

Not only is Deep Bay a naturally beautiful and protected harbour for Vancouver Island boaters, it is also the hub of a major natural event every spring that has probably been going on for hundreds of years -- the annual herring run. The Baynes Sound/Lambert Channel herring run, in March, is one of the biggest on the entire west coast of BC, according to experts at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo. The main attraction is the roe, a delicacy the Japanese call kazunoko. BC's herring is in big demand because of its high quality.

The local fishery provides employment for dozens of regional fishers and constitutes a way of life in several coastal communities during the spring months, when the herring return to spawn.

Each year the Department of Fisheries determines in advance how many tonnes of herring can be harvested and sets quotas for the seiners and gill-netters licensed to participate in the fishery. The leftover carcasses are reduced to fertilizer and animal feed, and the oil extracted for cosmetic products.

The preceding paragraphs are the facts about the herring fishery centred in Deep Bay every year. But those words are terribly inadequate to describe the marvel that happens on the beach and out on the water during the herring spawn.

First of all, the water all along the shoreline and extending out sometimes for a mile, becomes a milky turquoise - just like those touched-up photos of the Caribbean we 'ooh' and 'aah' over in the travel magazines. And because the herring are such a rich food source, the run attracts other wildlife to the area as well. Bald eagles circle everywhere, and on a good day, a photographer's dream can come true (they really DO have a wing-span of over six feet!) when one of them swoops down to the water's surface for a feed.

Nearby Norris Rocks, off the south tip of Hornby Island, are home to as many as 2000 Steller's and California sea lions during the herring run, and their incessant barking can be heard for miles around. Who needs a foghorn? And although the sight of Orcas nearby is a relatively infrequent event, it is more likely to happen during the herring run than at any other time of the year.

In short, the herring run near Deep Bay makes the area a magical place to be in the spring!