Health of pollock stock debated, quota set

Whether the pollock stock in the Bering Sea is as healthy as the quota was a source of debate at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council after several skippers and the largest seafood company in the state asked for a conservative approach for the 2012 season.

The council settled on a total allowable catch, or TAC, of 1.2 million metric tons for 2012, a slight decrease from the 1.25 million metric tons in 2011. The pollock fleet was unable to harvest the full quota in 2011, finishing the season about 54,000 metric tons short.

Joe Plescha of Trident Seafoods urged the council to adopt a quota of 1.1 million metric tons. Plescha was joined in that call for a conservative approach by skippers such as Floyd Smith, who said he’d been in contact with at least 60 fellow pollock captains who were all but unanimous in feeling the 2011 quota was too high and the 2012 quota being contemplated was, too.

The divide in opinion on where to set the quota largely was between the shore-based catcher vessel fleet and the offshore processor sector, although Smith told the council the skippers and individuals he talked to came from all sectors of the industry and Trident operates three catcher-processors in addition to its shoreside plants.

While many captains pointed to the struggles they had finding pollock during 2011 and high rates of bycatch of chum and chinook salmon as reasons for setting a conservative harvest, other operators reported they had successfully harvested their pollock allocations without as much difficulty.

Stephanie Madsen, director of factory trawler group At-Sea Processors, said she thought the council got it right.

“I was pleased with the decision,” she said. “I think people forget that 1.2 (million) represents a 50,000 metric ton decrease from what the quota was last year and they didn’t really talk about that.”

The common thread for those who reported better fishing was starting closer to the “B” season opening date of June 10. Those who fished more in August encountered high chum salmon bycatch, and the rolling hot spot system triggered more than 80 closure areas for chums.

As the fleet tried to mop up the rest of the harvest late in the season, some 20 closures were triggered based on chinook salmon bycatch rates. About half the total chinook bycatch for the season was taken in the fall between September and October.

During public testimony, John Bundy of Glacier Fish Co., which has three catcher-processors and is majority-owned by Community Development Quota group Norton Sound Economic Development Corp., said the reason pollock weren’t “schooling up” for better catch rates was because of an abundance of food in the Bering Sea.

That sentiment was echoed by Mike Hyde of American Seafoods, which operates six catcher-processors. He compared conditions in the Bering Sea to the council meeting room with food spread around rather than a buffet line attracting everybody to one side.

“I think there’s a big difference between resource concerns and poor fishing conditions,” Madsen said. “We didn’t really experience what the in-shore fishery might have experienced.”

Deliberations about where to set the pollock TAC focused on the differences between the stock assessment authored by Jim Ianelli and the council’s Groundfish Plan Team and Scientific and Statistical Committee, or SSC.

The pollock harvest TAC is derived from a number called the acceptable biological catch, or ABC. By law, the council may not set the harvest greater than the ABC.

Ianelli, based on numerous discussions with skippers who experienced sketchy fishing during 2011, reduced his estimate for the strength of the 2008 age class and recommended an ABC of 1.088 million metric tons.

The SSC and Plan Team decision was to continue classifying the 2008 age class above average in its model, which results in the higher ABC of 1.22 million metric tons.

John Henderschedt of Seattle introduced the motion to set the pollock TAC at 1.2 million metric tons, but his fellow Washington council member and former Trident executive Dave Benson introduced an amendment to set the TAC at 1.08 million metric tons.

The final vote on adopting the 1.08 million metric ton quota failed 4-7, with Benson, Duncan Fields of Kodiak, Ed Dersham of Anchor Point and Roy Hyder of Oregon voting in favor.

Although the council is able to and routinely does set harvest quotas at numbers far less than the acceptable biological catch for allocation reasons, the majority was uncomfortable using a scientific justification for setting a TAC of 1.08 million metric tons.

“A robust discussion about the science is never a bad idea,” Madsen said. “I’m a little disappointed it got elevated so much. I think the Plan Team and the SSC had a thorough discussion. It wasn’t controversial. It was pretty much consensus from both bodies, so I was a little unclear about the council’s interest on the difference when the analysis shows that amount of pollock (120,000 metric tons) isn’t going to make any difference in the health of the biomass.”

The acceptable biological catch of 1.22 million metric tons adopted by the SSC is less than half of the overfishing level of 2.47 million metric tons.

There is a great economic difference at the two harvest quotas considered by the council, though. A quota of 1.08 million metric tons rather than 1.2 million metric tons could represent $150 million or more in lost first wholesale value to the pollock sector.

Following the failure of the Benson amendment, Sam Cotten of Eagle River introduced a motion to shift 14,000 metric tons of pollock into the Pacific cod allocation, raising it to 275,000 metric tons and lowering the pollock allocation to 1.186 million metric tons.

The council has a cap of 2 million metric tons for all species in the Bering Sea Aleutian Islands fishery, meaning an increase in harvest for one species must have an offsetting reduction in another.

The cod TAC of 261,000 recommended by the Plan Team and SSC is a record harvest.

Cotten’s motion to move more fish to the cod quota would have allowed greater prosecution of the flatfish fisheries that rely on Pacific cod bycatch allocations to harvest species such as rock sole and yellowfin sole, as well as providing a greater amount of cod that could be delivered to Adak.

Icicle’s Pat Hardina said her company would prefer more cod rather than pollock to help sustain the Adak plant, which Icicle took over last year.

The decision on Cotten’s motion also split the council, and failed 5-6 with Cotten, Bill Tweit of Washington Fish and Wildlife Department, Fields, Benson and Hyder in favor.

The final harvest quotas for all species didn’t earn a unanimous vote, either, passing by an 8-3 margin with Fields, Benson and Hyder voting against.

Council chairman Eric Olson voted against Benson’s motion as well as Cotten’s.

Olson said the potential chinook savings of a lower pollock quota appealed to him, but that the caps put in place in 2009 that took effect in 2011 served to curtail pollock effort when bycatch rates began to escalate late in the season.

Unlike the Benson motion, which became clear would fail during deliberations, the roll call vote on Cotten’s motion to shift the cod quota went to the wire at 5-5 with Olson casting the sixth and decisive vote to maintain a 1.2 million metric ton pollock quota.

Andrew Jensen can be reached at andrew.jensen@alaskajournal.com.