A scientific panel is recommending the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) increase the available catch of pollock in the East Bering Sea after observer data and trawl surveys indicated a healthy biomass.
An assessment found the stock was within 92 percent of its all-time peak female spawning biomass in 2022. The assessment said that the higher biomass is largely thanks to the strength of the 2018 year class of pollock, which has helped buoy the overall stock, keeping it at high levels.
The Science and Statistical Committee (SSC) for the NPFMC reviewed the recommendations from the assessment and determined that the biomass is robust enough to move forward with a quota increase for 2025.
The recommendations – which still need to be approved by both the NPFMC and NOAA – are for the total allowable catch to increase to 1.375 million metric tons (MT) in 2025, up from the 1.3 million MT quota that was approved for 2024.
Jim Ianelli, the lead author of the pollock assessment, said the past season was fairly typical across the A and B pollock seasons in terms of historical catch rates. However, the fishery was faced with smaller fish, and the “condition” of the fishery was lower.
“The last couple of years has been relatively light across all of the lengths,” Ianelli said during the meeting.
Survey data also showed a relatively low condition for the fishery.
“It is, in relative terms, lower than we’ve seen on average,” Ianelli said.
Ianelli spent time focusing on the 2018 year class and the dominance it has across the pollock stock. He compared it to the 2008 year class, which was a similarly large year in the pollock stock.
“The 2018 year class seems to be more ubiquitous – kind of in the center of where we think pollock density would be in the Bering Sea,” Ianelli said.
The SSC’s proposed increase for the U.S. fishery comes soon after Russia nixed plans to increase its pollock quota in 2025. The All-Russian Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO) recommended a slightly lower quota for the fishery following its surveys of the stock.
