Commercial fishing for pollock in the Central Gulf of Alaska came to a halt on Sept. 25, leaving 50,000 tons of the whitefish in the water, when shut down by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to prevent exceeding the limit on Chinook salmon prohibited species catch (PSC). The action taken by Jon M. Kurland, regional administrator for the Alaska Region of NMFS, came after the captain of one of 19 trawlers fishing for pollock in the Central Gulf pulled up a net with an estimated 2,000 Chinook salmon.
The Chinook prohibited species catch in this pollock trawl fisheries is 18,316 Chinook salmon. As of Sept. 27, NMFS data indicated the PSC estimate for Chinook salmon in the central Gulf pollock fishery at 19,665 fish. In last week’s incident, the captain immediately notified the partner trawler he was fishing with and they both notified the Alaska Groundfish Data Bank of the bycatch. Both are local vessels based in Kodiak.
Total PSC estimates are calculated using verified information collected by observers.
“This was unprecedented,” said Julie Bonney, owner and executive director of the Alaska Groundfish Data Bank. “Over the last 20 years, there has never been that much prohibit species salmon taken in one tow of the trawlers fishing in the Central Gulf for pollock.”
Measures taken by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to minimize bycatch worked —but the cost to fishermen, processors and the city of Kodiak will be in the millions of dollars, Bonney said. The 19 trawlers had caught just 18,000 tons of pollock.
Closing down the fishery left 50,000 tons of pollock in the ocean, which will impact jobs of commercial fishing crews, processing company workers, and myriad businesses that are engaged with the fishing industry. Bonney said she even got a call from a Kodiak man whose company services vending machines in the processing facilities in Kodiak.
The fleet was very proactive when they got word of the large bycatch of Chinook salmon, Bonney said.
“They all came into town, because we knew the cap (on salmon bycatch) was at risk,” she said. “As soon as we heard what happened we recommended that the fleet stand down, which they did.”
Along with commercial harvesters, processors, and businesses that deal with the industry, about 100 Kodiak families will be directly impacted financially by the shutdown, Bonney said.
Data verified by NMFS noted that the trawlers immediately stopped fishing when informed of the big Chinook bycatch and alerted other boats to avoid the area and were compliant with federal regulations, NMFS officials said.
Salmon are prohibited species catch in the whitefish fishery in the Central Gulf and must be retained for enumeration and genetic sampling at the processing plant. They cannot be sold but may be donated. Processing plants in Kodiak participate in the prohibited species donation program, which allows salmon that are of marketable size and suitable quality for food to be donated. Based on information available, the average size of salmon encountered were about 4 pounds each. A legal 28-inch king caught when sportfishing is approximately 10 pounds.
Also, because they are a prohibited species catch, they have no monetary value, NMFS officials said.
Implementation of electronic monitoring on pollock catcher vessels in 2025 will result in a greater proportion of trips and salmon incidental catch amounts to be verified by independent fishery observers, resulting in more precision in PSC estimates of salmon, NMFS officials said.
