2020 has arrived, which means that several fishing seasons are underway in Alaska – or are readying to begin.
Alaska’s crab and cod fisheries launched on 1 January. This year’s Bering Sea cod season features a slightly smaller quota than last year with 305.5 million pounds, down a million pounds from 2019. This year, less than 6 million pounds of cod are expected to be harvested from the Gulf of Alaska.
The state’s pollock fishery begins on 20 January, and the gulf is expected to harvest some 250 million pounds of the whitefish in 2020 – 57 million fewer pounds than in 2019. On the other hand, the Bering Sea is expected to produce more than 3 billion pounds of pollock, 2 percent more than last year.
The state’s snow crab season is expected to ramp up shortly, with the largest harvest expected in the middle of January. The quota has increased by nearly a quarter, up to almost 34 million pounds. On 15 January, a Tanner crab fishery will begin its season in Kodak, which will help to provide work for those relying on the disappointing cod season in the gulf.
Later this spring, in March 2020, the halibut season will begin; the International Pacific Halibut Commission will announce catches in early February.
A banner year is expected for the herring season. At Sitka Sound, the 25,824-ton catch quota is double last year’s. In 2019, the fishery was called off for the first time in decades because the fish were too small. However, the restrictions appear to have paid off – according to a press release from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, “the 2020 forecast is larger than the estimated 2019 mature biomass of 130,738 tons and is greater than any forecast previously estimated for Sitka Sound herring.”
A massive 38,789-ton harvest is expected at Alaska’s biggest roe herring fishery at Togiak in Bristol Bay.
Photo courtesy of Vintagepix/Shutterstock
