National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists in Seattle presented their preliminary findings to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Groundfish Plan Team, which is reviewing stock assessments prior to issuing a full report in November. The findings revealed that the pollock fishery in the eastern Bering is the nation’s largest commercial fish harvest by weight, and it is Alaska’s most valuable fishery, worth nearly $1 billion a year.
The population of pollock remains low which could mean another year of costly fishing reductions for the trawl fleet and the communities that hold a lucrative stake in the fishery. Environmentalists and some villages blamed the pollock fishery for this year’s crash in Yukon River king salmon runs, which made it difficult for villagers to feed their families. Federal biologists said bycatch is probably just one of several factors in the crash.
NOAA informed that pollock population estimates have been declining for some time. Last year’s spawning biomass was at the lowest level since 1980, and that led fishery managers to reduce the allowed catch by nearly 19 percent. Doug DeMaster, director of NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center, said that the total population count for 2009 is not yet known, but preliminary data indicates that it may be comparable to 2008.
Jon Warrenchuck, a Juneau-based scientist for Oceana, a conservation group, added that the surveys are indicating that there’s not enough pollock out there to feed all of the wildlife that depends on the fish, especially fur seals and Steller sea lions, whose populations are declining.
