Gloucester fishing port has got good landings of American pollock at the start of 2008. These catches of pollock have been done by the local medium-sized draggers, Lily Jean and Grace Marie, along with the groundfish fleet’s last two 90-footers, Miss Trish II and Princess Laura. The experience of such catch has been shared by two of the captains and one of the crewmen.
Sebastian Noto, captain of the Grace Marie said that pollock fishing is a lot of work, but it has paid off last week. No doubt good pollock fishing is a tough task means upping a vessel’s regular four- to five-man crew by one or two men, not being afraid of hard work, quickly catching and landing volumes of pollock. He also added that the draggers snag the schooling pollock off hard and by towing fennel-shaped nets more than 100 feet wide smooth bottoms, and then it spread apart and weighed down by sets of steel trawl doors.
Big catches of pollock often brings its prices to a record low. The often low prices and the tremendous hard work involved deter many ground fishermen from targeting pollock. Crewmen work round the clock on deck around a cutting box, continuously filling it and then emptying it by first cutting and eviscerating pollock and then tossing them into a wash-down tank with circulating seawater.
According to a fisherman handling the pollock alive is hard on the hands and shoulders. Noto said that the pollock have been good for everybody. The 10-year-old Gloucester Seafood Display Auction informed that last week pollock catch was one of its biggest.
