In a meeting in Anchorage federal fisher regulators have advised for a strict slash in pollock catch in Bering Sea. Environmental activists, however, seek even deeper cutback next year. It is said that the action was expected and had the broad support of government scientists who study the fish and believe the stock is healthy but trending down.
Oceana and Greenpeace, however, called for a much deeper slash in next year’s catch, arguing the commercial fleet is fishing too hard on a stock important not only as human food but as nourishment for sea lions and other Bering Sea creatures. It is told that the pollock fishery is the nation’s largest by weight, yielding products worth more than $1 billion annually.
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, an 11-member panel of government officials and industry representatives that helps regulate commercial fishing off Alaska, voted unanimously to limit next year’s pollock catch to 815,000 metric tons. This cut is an 18.5 percent drop from this year’s level and a 45 percent decline from the peak of nearly 1.5 million tons in 2004.
The council action is subject to final approval by the U.S. commerce secretary. Doug Mecum, a council member and the Commerce Department’s top fishery regulator in Alaska, explained that he was comfortable setting the pollock limit at 815,000 tons based on the work of federal scientists who spend millions of dollars monitoring the pollock population.
John Henderschedt, a council member and employee of Seattle-based pollock fishing company Premier Pacific Seafoods, informed that the industry had hoped the cut to next year’s catch wouldn’t be so steep.
