As the pollock population declines the authority has planned to set new limits for the Seattle trawlers, the biggest pollock fishery in North America. Pollock fishery is likely to take a big tumble next year as a result of ocean surveys that show a sharp decline in abundance of Bering Sea pollock.
It is told that the fish, which is processed into fillets, surimi paste and other products, typically brings in more than $1 billion in annual revenue and is a mainstay of Seattle-based trawl fleets. Bering Sea pollock populations have been on decline for several years, and that downturn appears to have accelerated.
According to surveys by NOAA Fisheries the 2008 pollock population was 38 percent below last year’s survey levels. The surveys are expected to influence the North Pacific Fishery Management Council when it meets in December to set the final harvest levels for 2009. It is informed that the harvests will drop to about 800,000 metric tons, which would be the smallest harvest in more than 30 years, and a steep decline from the 1.5 million metric-ton record harvests just three years ago.
Experts believe that the recent pollock declines are cyclical, and predict that 2010 could see at least a modest upswing in populations as a strong class of young pollock, born in 2006, matures. It is fact that the North Pacific council has never exceeded pollock- harvest levels recommended by scientists. John Hocevar, a marine biologist and director of the Greenpeace Oceans Campaign, said that one of the largest fishery is on the cusp of collapse in history.
