The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council set an incremental hike in total allowable catch (TAC) for Alaska sablefish amidst controversy over large sablefish bycatch at the hands of trawlers in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska.
The council accepted the recommendation of its scientific and statistical committee to implement a 25 percent stair-step increase in TAC. This will mean an increase in quota in all areas, with the Aleutian Islands seeing the largest increase of up to 60 percent and the Gulf of Alaska ticking up slightly.
The decision came at the December council meeting, where sablefish bycatch was a hot button issue. Industry leaders had sent a letter to NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Chris Oliver in November requesting measures to cut back on the number of sablefish being caught by Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska trawlers. At the time, with two weeks still left in the season, Bering Sea trawlers had exceeded their sablefish bycatch limit by nearly 500 percent. In 2019, they went over their limit by more than 350 percent. Trawlers in the Gulf of Alaska fleet surpassed sablefish limits by 50 percent last year and were approaching 100 percent this year.
Buck Laukitis, a fisherman who harvests sablefish in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, has been among those sounding the bycatch alarm. Laukitis told The Homer News that rationalization and observer coverage were supposed to eliminate major issues like pollock trawlers scooping up millions of pounds of sablefish.
“We could tell what every single one of those boats is doing through their co-op. We know who’s catching the [sablefish] and where they’re fishing,” Laukitis said. “The promise of rationalization was that they would take care of their own problems.”
Meanwhile, Laukitis and other fishermen were having a hard time pulling up all their quota, with under 70 percent of the statewide TAC harvested as the 2020 season wound down.
Brent Paine is the executive director of United Catcher Boats, an organization that represents Alaska groundfish trawlers, including Bering Sea pollock, the nation’s largest fishery by volume.
He told SeafoodSource trawlers say large schools of sablefish, also known as black cod, are unavoidable on the grounds.
“[Trawlers] are saying they’re seeing sablefish, bumping into them, and can’t avoid them. They’re making arguments that the increased incidental catch of sablefish has no impacts on the long-term viability of sablefish stock because these year classes are so huge. It’s an ugly battle going on right now between the fixed gear and the trawlers,” Paine said.
Comments at the council meeting revealed divisions amongst the fixed-gear fishermen themselves, with some arguing for a static TAC to allow fish to grow larger. Recent years have seen large sablefish stocks but smaller sizes. Buyers will pay more for sablefish over five pounds, and the highest-value fish are over seven pounds.
There are also concerns that bycatch by the groundfish fishery may be adversely affecting crab stocks in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, an issue that will be addressed at the council’s next meeting in February 2021.
Photo courtesy of photomatz/Shutterstock
