Alaska’s major pollock fishing seasons have closed for 2024, ending on a successful Bering Sea B season that brought the area’s catch totals near their maximum quota allowed.
However, the earlier cancelation of the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (CGOA) pollock fishery's second season contributed to some quota being left in the water elsewhere.
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced on 25 September that all directed fishing in the CGOA region would be halted due to a Chinook salmon bycatch incident. That incident left 49,869 metric tons (MT) of the fishery’s quota in the water as the fishing fleet were forced to stop fishing.
Now, the state’s Bering Sea B Season pollock fishery – the largest in the state in terms of quota – has effectively ended as the fishery reaches its quota limits. Based on preliminary catch totals reported by the Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP), the B season fishery performed well and caught close to the full quota.
According to GAPP, for the full year, the Bering Sea fishery caught close to the allocated quota across inshore harvesters; catcher processors; “mothership” vessels, which receive fish from catcher vessels at sea; and community development quota (CDQ) categories.
Inshore harvesters caught 565,270 MT of pollock compared to the 565,850 MT allocated by quota for the year, catcher processors caught 452,489 MT versus the 452,672 MT allocated, motherships caught 112,457 MT versus the 113,168 MT allocated, and CDQ caught 131,813 MT versus the 131,900 MT allocated for the year.
Inshore fishers in the Bering Sea caught more pollock in the B season than they were apportioned by the quota; however, due to 24,283 MT of unharvested quota in the A season, the full-year totals ended up being under their quotas.
By product type, through 26 October, the pollock fishery produced much less surimi in 2024 compared to 2023 but more pin bone out (PBO) fillets.
According to GAPP, the industry produced 170,274 MT of surimi, down from 195,107 MT in 2023. PBO fillet production increased to 122,371 MT – up from 96,238 MT.
Deep-skinned fillet production dropped from 58,890 MT in 2023 to 45,081 MT in 2024, and production of "other fillets" dropped from 940 MT to 583 MT.
Production of headed and gutted (H&G) pollock increased from 34,487 MT in 2023 to 39,957 MT in 2024, minced production increased from 21,830 MT in 2023 to 24,392 MT in 2024, and roe production increased from 16,605 MT in 2023 to 20,782 MT in 2024.
Fishmeal and fish oil production also increased, according to GAPP. Fishmeal production reached 69,580 MT in 2024, up from 62,968 MT in 2023, and fish oil production reached 27,361 MT in 2024, up from 26,237 MT in 2023.
